Requiem
by ArchReaperN7
Summary: The collector threat is done; and the Normandy crew survived. The Shadow Broker has eyes watching a friend of Shepard's. Loyalties will be questioned, lives put on the line. And Peta will stop at nothing to get the girl of his dreams. In this, the crew is never safe. And in the end, Marcus Shepard will have to make a decision that could cripple his resolve forever.
1. Prologue

**REQUIEM**

**PROLOGUE**

_October 9, 2185_

_0800 hours._

_Main Bridge, Brussels-Class Stealth Frigate CAW Tajikistan, Guarding Omega 4 Relay._

_Captain Andrew Nepal._

Space; it was a wonderous place. Ever since humanity first dreamt of the stars, space had been a beautiful, amazing place; one humanity could never hope to access. Yet they did. Two hundred years in the making. Humanity now not only travelled the stars; _they owned them. _Or at least would, when Cerberus won the hearts of the Alliance loyalists or even the Alliance itself. Humanity was superior to the other races; they just had to realize it.

Captain Andrew Nepal was a spacer kid; or at least he had always dreamt of being one. He had been born on Earth; a little area called Australia. Two hundred years ago, hearing about that country and referring to it as a military superpower would have been laughed at. But in the future, where the Systems Alliance rules Earth as a single global power, Australia is no longer a nation to be laughed at.

Nepal was australian himself and ever since he was a child, he had dreamed of joining the Alliance Navy. But he had been born in a harsh family; his father despised the Alliance and its ideals, and his mother hated aliens; something which Nepal adopted. But when it came to it, and he was 18 years of age, he joined the Alliance, but took his mother's xenophobic ideals with him. And now he commanded one of many Cerberus stealth frigates; fighting the good fight for humanity.

He looked out at the stars, but he couldn't look at them the same now. Not with the pulsing red glow of the Omega 4 Relay poisoning the view. Everything about the relay radiated Reaper presence; the color, the size, the design...it was all Reaper architecture; designed by a race of sentient starships that harvested life every fifty thousand years; a relay that was ultimately connected to a massive deathtrap. Thanks to Commander Marcus Shepard however, that trap had been inactive for two years.

Now his stealth frigate, the CAW Tujikistan, lay in wait near the relay, stealth drive engaged, ready to ambush the savior of the galaxy's vessel and disable it, before taking its crew hostage and the ship back to a Cerberus drydock where it belonged.

Marcus Shepard had recently destroyed the Collectors; a race of twisted hybrid servants of the Reapers, who had once been the mighty prothean race. With them destroyed, human colonies would stop disappearing, but the Reapers were still coming; and the Illusive Man needed Shepard under lock and key if they were to win. If that involved inputting a control chip into the crew's brains, then so be it.

Nepal brought up the inventory of the ship's weaponry; they were hopelessly outmatched. Four GARDIAN batteries; two rear, two bow. A couple of absolute hellfire missile banks at the bow and a few pulse lasers. No MAC cannon, no heavy weaponry. The Normandy would pick them off like they were an annoying fly.

But there was one weapon on the frigate that with a single lock-on and pull of the trigger, would result in rendering all the Normandy's defenses meaningless. It was an EMP emitter; mounted on the chin of his vessel. They would have to drop the stealth drive, but by the time they did that and fired, it would be too late for Shepard's ship to retaliate. All its weapons, defenses, upgrades and speed would be rendered redundant with a single, well-placed shot.

Andrew's ship had been equipped with a platoon of well-armed commandos. Once the Normandy was disabled, the Tajikistan would board the enemy ship and insert through both entrances; airlock and shuttle bay. Injured from the collector battle, they would hardly put up a fight, and with a few tranquilizers fired, it would all be over. Once secured, the platoon's commander, First Lieutenant Jonathan Sand, would destroy the AI with a system purge, disable the geth and bring it in for weapons testing and secure the crew to be moved onto the ship. It would all go perfectly fine. That, and Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor would be executed for treason. TIM was only so forgiving.

He looked away from the displays as his weapons officer, Dante, spoke up, "Sir, Omega 4 Relay powering up; they're coming through."

"You know what to do," Nepal ordered, turning in his chair to face him, "Have the VI sound General's Quarters. Dante, have the weapon ready," he quickly turned to face his navigation officer, Yvette, "Rotate us anti-clockwise until facing the relay and the Normandy's exit point. Also make sure we're relative with them on the galactic plane. Get to it."

Alarms rang throughout the ship and the bridge turned a dull red in color. Officers rushed around the bridge, while Nepal placed his face in his palm, just letting himself get lost in the persistent crimson of the relay. He watched it power up more and more. _We'll get you Shepard; and you won't even know we're coming for ya._

The Normandy flashed forward in a dash of blood red; the Omega 4 Relay unclasping its tentacles from the frigates hull and watching it move away. Nepal examined the ship's hull. _Christ, that thing took a beating, didn't it? Scrapes along the hull, a hole at the shuttle bay, hull scarring, evidence of a crash..._That just made his job alot easier.

"Drop the stealth," Nepal ordered, "Fire immediately upon drop. Don't wait for the VI to get IFF IDENT, just override it and fire."

He watched as the Normandy turned its GARDIANs instantly to aim at the now revealed frigate, but as he predicted, it was too late. The EMP pulsed away from the frigate and licked at the Normandy; soaking it vibrant blue electricity. When it was all done, the GARDIANs on the frigate went dead and became adrift. He smiled grimly.

He turned to his communications officer, Emilio, "Inform Lieutenant Sand that the mission is a go. Launch the shuttle. Have his second team meet at the airlock and prepare to board. Let's hit them before they have to time to mount resistance. Yvette, get us a dock. Move it, double time. Illusive Man doesn't enjoy failure and doesn't reward it."

_Give me the Normandy and I'll give you command of the Elbrus. I'll give you my flagship, Nepal._

And what captain didn't dream of commanding a dreadnought?

He smiled and leaned back in his seat as the Tujikistan moved into dock with the Normandy, turning to his XO, Jason, and ordering him to go to the mess hall and get him a coffee with two sugars. He wanted to think about just what the Elbrus might look like.

**{Loading...}**

_October 9, 2185_

_0804 hours._

_Cockpit, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, Disabled around Omega 4 Relay._

_Chief Warrant Officer Tiana Runner._

Clearing the airlock was easy; noone came rushing to meet them. So both of the squads under his command cleared the airlock pretty well. Even the AI was defenseless to protect the vessel from the Cerberus invaders. But it really wasn't invading when the ship was your property was it? No, this was _reclaiming _what was rightfully theirs. And, with a note, to take a little side of crew. _What the Illusive Man needs, he gets._

She once again eyed her repurposed vindicator battle rifle; instead of thermal clips, it as retrofitted with transquilizer darts, designed to take down any alien, no matter the race. Team Two under Sand would have more tranquilizers in terms of the krogan supersoldier, but that was it. This was going to be too easy. Too fun.

They moved into the dimly lit cockpit; the only thing operating being the emergency lighting. She turned to look at the cockpit, weapon raised to see the back of a seat. She, along with Sand, had been given clear details on the crew, and she knew the crippled pilot would be no threat, "Turn around, Moreau."

The chair spun around, and the pilot faced them, hands up, "Are you going to shoot me? You think you can just take this ship? You can kiss my-"

Her finger tightened on the trigger and a dart flew out, hitting the pilot in the neck. He fell back quickly, eyes drooping steadily, "You can't-You won't...we'll...take...you...dooooowwwnnnnn..." His eyes fell closed and he slouched back in his seat, now in a sleep-like state. Pilot neatralized, she motioned squad one to take point and move down the flight deck while she took the rear with her main squad.

The CIC was empty but for a couple of the treacherous crew, but they were put to sleep easily enough. They moved through the CIC quickly and quietly, weapons drawn and ready. Squad two took the armoury while her squad took the tech lab. Her team got to clear the CIC and deck one, while Sand took care of engineering and crew deck. I wonder what Shepard would think if they secured his quarian bitch. But be motivation.

Both squads in position, she gave the go ahead and they breached the rooms using electronic power surges; the doors were designed to open upon haptic touch, but due to no power, the haptic interfaces were offline. Her team cleared the empty bow between the CIC and the lab and then moved into the main lab.

One of the suit-rats on the ship, the one called 'Lia'Vael' stood in the middle, back turned towards them. Three of her men approached her back, weapons up and ready. One ordered her to turn around, but she declined to do so. So he gave her an attitude adjustment by grabbing her shoulder roughly and spinning her around.

A knife embedded itself in his neck and he fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. An SMG went off and got another commando in the side of his head, the salarian appearing out of nowhere, SMG in hand. He pushed Lia onto the floor, firing an incineration blast into the third trooper, killing her instantly and allowing him to face the rest of her squad.

Unfortunately, without kinetic barriers, he was completely defenseless. Her team opened fire and three darts hit the salarian in the chest, one in the forehead. He collapsed forward, knocked out. The quarian quickly followed suit. With them neatralized, her squad quickly moved through the corridor occupying the conference room entrance and moved into the armoury.

It was a bloody mess; five commandos dead, and two injured. Turning around, she saw the unconscious forms of Jacob Taylor and Kaidan Alenko, two human traitors. She wanted to kill them both badly, but decided it wasn't worth defying TIM's orders, and ordered second squad to secure the CIC while the rest of her squad takes Deck One.

The elevator was out of use due to the EMP; so they took the maintenance ladders. With ten men in her squad left, including herself, they were all that was needed to take care of Shepard; as strong as he was. She looked forward to putting a dart into him herself.

**{Loading...}**

_October 9, 2185_

_0806 hours._

_Shuttle Bay, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, Disabled around Omega 4 Relay._

_First Lieutenant Jonathan Sand._

Gaining access to the shuttle bay was easy; even with its main doors closed, the hole in the hull was more than large enough for them to get through. _Whatever caused that hole was fucking massive. Its both a pity and a fortunate thing it didn't finish the job, whatever the hell it was. _So the shuttle landed in the middle of the bay, the pilot informing them that the hull breach was sealed by a forcefield, so EVA equipment wasn't necessary.

Once outside, they could see a battle had raged in the shuttle bay. One of the ventilation fans had been blown completely from its hinges and rested ten meters across the bay, right beside the docking control consoles. One of the kodiaks had once been a smoking ruin, but the fires had long since burned out. Equipment was shown lying all over the place; dumped where it was just before the forcefield was erected to stop decompression.

The rubble of a YMIR mech lay not far away and that's when he saw it just next to the elevator; the crippled form of a hammerhead tank; the only one in existence. It was a Cerberus prototype tank built under the name of Project: Firewalker, and had been given to the Normandy to aid in the battle against the Collectors, but one side of it had been incinerated and blown off. The tank was destroyed in most meanings of the term; useless. _Billions of credits...blown apart by collectors._

Both squads pushed into the shuttle bay, all of them noticing a shattered glass window up above; more signs of battle, and he also saw a scorch mark tracking all the wall of the engineering corridor. It was a _huge _scorch mark. They approached the elevator, but just as they reached it, one of his commandos' head exploded, a large gaping hole in his skull where his brain had been and fell to the ground in a heap of gore. They looked up, weapons raised to see the attacker, but saw nothing. Another man fell, same injury he ordered the elevator opened. But no further attacks came.

The elevator doors were forced open and they immediately entered the shaft, looking up to see the elevator stuck halfway between decks three and four. Moving up the ladder, all 26 soldiers moved up the ladder steadily gaining access to deck four and opening the door. Jonathan lead the way, weapon ready. He saw nothing.

Once out, he looked back down, his voice barely above a whisper, "Squad One, keep going up and secure the Crew Deck. We'll stay here and keep engineering."

The commander of that squad and his section moved into the main engineering corridor, weapons raised and ready. He split them up; three men moved to the garbage disposal area, four to the cargo bay, and the rest were with him to take care of the quarian and her two helpers, along with Subject Zero, who the Illusive Man had a particular interest in.

It was eerily silent as his unit moved into engineering; not a sound, not even the humming of the drive core, and that unsettled him. He may have once served as a marine in the UNAS Marine Corps, but this kind of silence was just _wrong. _A crew like the Normandy? It shouldn't be this quiet.

He opened the door to engineering and fired a dart at the quarian's console. But when his dart fired and impacted, it ricocheted off the unmanned terminal, the quarian missing. He frowned and three of his men split off downstairs to take care of Zero. He moved silently, edgingly, and swiftly inside. Silent, he looked right and saw Donnelly and Daniels missing as well. _What the fuck is going on?_

He commed the Tajikistan, "Captain Nepal, this is Sand, breaking radio silence, how copy?"

"Copy, Sierra-Alfa-November-Delta. Better have a good reason for this lieutenant," the captain replied.

"Sir, Deck Four is empty," Jonathan replied, "Its a fucking ghost ship, most like. I've checked engineering, and the quarian is missing, same with both engineers. And two of my men were taken out whilst on the shuttle deck, but there's no sign of the assailant."

"Then keep searching," Nepal frustratingly replied, "What, you think they stay in scripted locations all-day? Are you that moronic? Of course they move around the ship you idiot!"

Jonathan nodded, sighing, "Aye aye sir. We'll keep searching. I'll update you on our progress."

"See that its good news," Nepal replied before switching off the comm.

Fuming, he moved back outside, signalling the three men with him to follow. As they did, they found the other three already back from below decks, but hadn't found Zero. _Jesus-motherfucking-Christ. These people want to play hide-and-seek do they? That's fine; I'll play. But I'm going to fucking win._

All seven of them moved out and through the doorway into the main hallway. He was about to demand a status update from both fireteams sent to secure the flanking rooms, but heard the door slide open to garbage disposal. All seven turned, weapons raised. There was nothing for a second and they slowly began to lower their weapons, but that was until the mercenary veteran, Zaeed Massani, stood framed in the doorway, holding the body of a commando by the throat.

Zaeed shook his head, no smile on his face, "You send three goddam rookies to take care of me? _Three? _Tell your Illusive Man I ain't goddam impressed. I'm insulted," it was then that he smiled, "But I'm not mad with you; just a little annoyed. So I've got a present for you; well, _we do_," and with that, he threw the dead body at Jonathan and his men.

The body landed at their feet and Jonathan cried out as he realized there was a grenade rammed in his mouth. "Mov-!"

The grenade detonated and Jonathan's vision went red as he was thrown back. Two of his men were consumed by the blast and thrown away like ragdolls; one into a wall and the other out a window. The other five fell backwards with him, one missing a leg and screaming while the others were deafened slightly by the blast, all covered in their own gore or the gore of their former comrade.

Jonathan sat up to look Zaeed in the eyes, the mercenary moving forward with casuality. Jonathan raised his rifle and fired a dart at him, but the mercenary saw it coming and sidestepped it, the dart entering the garbage disposal room and disappearing. Jonathan barked at his men to get up and open fire on the merc and they so without objection.

"I. AM. KROGAN!" A voice bellowed from behind them and all the commandos immediately turned to face a huge krogan supersoldier who now emerged from the cargo bay, bathed in the red blood and gore of three more of Jonathan's men. _This is suicide. We should have just gassed the ship!_

He turned back to face the mercenary, but was just in time to watch another one of his men's heads get blown off his shoulders, looking directly at their attacker from before; it was the geth, which held a widow rifle in its hands as it came to a stop by Zaeed's side. Without lowering its weapon, it spoke, "This attack on the Normandy-collective was a strategically illogical allocation of Cerberus logistics."

Jonathan growled and turned to see two of his men trying to flee only to run into the krogan and quickly run back. But as they did, they ran into a wave of purple patterns. She ducked a shot from the commando's rifle and grabbed the man's rifle, ripping it from his hands. She immediately let go and whacked him over the head with the butt of her shotgun before firing a bolt of plasma into the other's chest. With all his men down, the quarian turned around, and was revealed to be none other than the bitch herself.

"Tali'Zorah vas Neema," Jonathan growled, moving to raise his weapon, knowing the futility of the gesture, "You should have stayed on your pig sty of a fleet."

Zaeed grabbed him from behind and ripped the weapon from his grip. Jonathan quickly found himself forced to his knees by the geth, the Cerberus commando unable to resist the geth's powerful machine grip. He looked up at the quarian engineer, who now squatted next to him, shotgun infront of her.

Her voice was venom, "Tali'Zorah _vas Normandy. _And you just messed with the wrong ship, Cerberus bosh'tet. Knock him out Zaeed. I'm sure Marcus will have questions for him when he finishes this charade."

Jonathan growled one last time as Zaeed hit him across the face with the butt of his rifle, Jonathan's world going black as he fell to the deck. _There's still three more squads on the ship. Runner's bound to have Shepard under a leash now. She'll threaten to kill Shepard if they don't surrender. And if they don't, well, their ship is looking pretty vulnerable._

_Fuck these xenos. Fuck them all. Should have brought live ammo, and left a tranquilizer for Shepard._

**{Loading...}**

_October 9, 2185_

_0811 hours._

_Captain's Quarters, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, Disabled around Omega 4 Relay._

_Chief Warrant Officer Tiana Runner._

Her prize; at last. Any other stupid woman would drool at the sight of Commander Shepard's doors, but she simply saw an opportunity to tag Shepard and claim the credit all for herself. Maybe she'd get a transfer from Lieutenant Dickhead's platoon. The man was barely command material, and he'd be prone to anger. Ex-marine or not, he was not suited for the task. Runner however? Maybe she could.

Her squad's engineer began hacking the door, ready to open it on her orders. She loaded a tranquilizer into the firing chamber of her vindicator and prepare to storm the quarters. Finally, when the engineer got the door open, she rushed in first, two of her men flanking her. She didn't make a single verbal sound; just moving forward, ready to get the bastard. Maybe tag him as he's sleeping? That'd make a-"

She stopped suddenly, lowering her weapon and her face creasing in disappointment. He wasn't in his bed sleeping and from what she could see, he wasn't on his couch either. She turned to his desk, and saw he wasn't there either and quickly checked the shower cubicle; nothing there either. She cursed at herself and moved back into the room seperating the elevator shaft from the Captain's Quarters.

"He's not here LT," she reported, moving down the ladder, "We're heading to deck three, over."

No response. She frowned, comming again, "LT, report."

Still nothing, "This isn't friggin funny, sir. Are you still butthurt over me calling you Lieutenant Dickhead? Seriously? Grow some fucking balls; it was a joke. Quit trying to be a hardass and just give me a simple sitrep."

No response. She didn't like this. Jonathan Sand wasn't a hardened man; apply the pressure a little, and he'd crack, but she wasn't getting anything. She checked her HUD, and saw his IFF, along with all of fourth squad, were pinged KIA. Except Sand, who appeared to be listed as WIA. _Dead? All of them? All except Sand? How the fuck...I thought we caught the fuckers by surprise! How could this happen?_

She radioed second squad on the CIC to be ready for any enemy activity and to start transporting the crew onto the ship before they wake up. If they couldn't have the whole crew, they'd at least take some of them. After a while of ladder climbing, they reached the Crew Deck door and forced it open, Runner going first and landing on the deck, weapon arched upwards. She rolled her eyes at the sight of a blood smeared wall infront of her; a dead body to accompany it. And it wasn't the enemy's. _Do all these morons not know the essence of stealth? _

She motioned four of her men to flank right and take out the thief while the rest of them dealt with the justicar. But, too their surprise, they found the door already open and one of the commandos tossed across the sofa like an unwanted toy. Another one had been thrown against a wall and a third against an upturned chair. But no asari justicar was to be found.

She turned back around after hearing a creak, but saw nothing. Tightening her grip, she motioned for her men to keep going, and the four sent to acquire returned, stating they couldn't find Goto. They checked Life Support, but found nothing there either. The assassin was nowhere to be found.

They quickly moved into the Mess Hall, and saw that the medical bay windows were tinted and that the hall was basically ended. She wanted to capture the Cerberus traitor herself, but when she checked, the XO's quarters were empty too.

"Ma'am, where's Allers?" One of her men asked and she turned and indeed, Allers was missing.

"I don't know," Runner responded, looking at the med bay, "But we keep moving and secure the medical bay; those windows are tinted for a reason."

They moved to open the door but were beaten to it as it slid open and a roar of assault rifle fire took three of her men full on and down. She roared and charged into the doorway, seeing a turian, most of the crew, Zero, the justicar, the assassin, the XO and...Shepard.

Shepard looked at her and let off a burst from his pistol, the weapon taking down her shields in a few shots. With a curse, she leapt behind cover and ordered her men to retaliate. But saw that there was no point, as now half of her squad was now spotanteously dead. _I don't know..._

Another one of her men fell before her eyes; slit throat by seemingly nothing. Runner saw a shimmer and immediately recognized what it was. _Tactical cloak. The thief. Yeah, why didn't __**we **__use tactical cloaks, huh? _She took aim with her weapon at the shimmer and fired, the dart stopping in mid-air, followed by a feminine gasp. Bingo.

The dart angled downwards to show the target had fallen. Upon hitting the ground, her cloak evaporated around her, revealing the hooded, unconscious form of Kasumi Goto. She smiled, but didn't get to celebrate her victory for long as she noticed the enemy had moved out of the bay, taken out the rest of her team and were turning to her to finish the job.

She took aim with her weapon, preparing to fire at Zero, smiling smugly at Shepard all the way, "Go ahead and kill me; you've lost. Our final squad is in the CIC now, and we've got your pilot, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Alenko, along with that suit-rat and her salarian appeaser. So kill me if you want; but in the end, we still get a nice chunk of your crew."

Shepard merely smiled, as if pitying her. It was Jack who spoke first, "This Cerberus whore must be as stupid as she looks."

Runner looked at her with hatred, "Coming from the one who wears nothing but leather straps for a bra, I feel pretty safe. And its not stupid to know the facts."

"Making you stupid," Garrus pointed out, smiling.

"What the fuck are you on about?" Runner hissed.

Shepard stepped up to her, shaking his head before hitting the comms, "Tali, have you secured the CIC?"

"That we have," the quarian responded causing Runner's grin to fall, "Joker's just waking up and Lia's going to get a fever from the dart, but everyone's fine. We've got a prisoner too. Tag says his name is 'Jonathan Sand?'"

_Couldn't just die, could you Lieutenant Dickhead? _She looked at Shepard with continued hate as the commander just backed away. With a sigh, he nodded and disconnected the comms, "Let me put this straight, whoever you are. Your EMP may have crippled us, but its kinda redundant when you _dock _with us. You see, we have an AI, which means she's smarter than your average VI. And with a geth onboard, that only helps things. So while you were trying to take our crew by surprise, EDI has just been so casually draining power from your ship to power our systems. EDI, status?"

"One minute to full restoration of power commander," the AI reported, "Drive core is online and weapons powered up. I have masked their signature from the Tajikistan to avoid alerting them, as I have masked our power seepage. VIs are easily fooled; as is this one. Legion has tricked it into thinking its the EMP main gun of the ship discharging."

Shepard nodded, "So once our power is back up, EDI is going to reduce that frigate too a smoldering wreck in the middle of space. You know, I would have at least wanted two days of breathing air before Cerberus decided to run up and slap me; but it seems TIM is just too impatient. Well, I'm about to show him what it means to be impatient. You are relieved, Warrant Officer Runner."

With that, he raised his pistol and fired a shot directly into Runner's forehead, killing her instantly.

**{Loading...}**

_October 9, 2185_

_0817 hours._

_Main Bridge, Brussels-Class Stealth Frigate CAW Tajikistan, Docked with Normandy SR-2._

_Captain Andrew Nepal._

What the fuck is taking Sand so long?

"Contact Sand," Nepal ordered Emilio, "I want a status update right now. If he doesn't, I'll arrange an appointment with him and the Illusive Man's dog, Leng. That should be motivation enough."

Emilio nodded, returning to his duties while Nepal examined the situation. Sand had broken radio silence like, what, seventeen minutes go? 'round about? All to tell him that they weren't where they were _meant _to be, the bloody moron. And now, seventeen minutes later, not so much as an update? And didn't Runner's men say they were bringing the first batch of prisoners onboard? Where the hell were they?

He tapped his fingers impatiently on his chair before turnin to Emilio, "Well, have you frigging got him?"

"I can't seem to get him to respond sir," Emilio reported, "Noone's responding. Runner, Sand, all units under them; they've all gone silent. Something isn't right."

"Yes, thanks for that brilliant deduction Sherlock," Nepal shook his head, looking out at the stars. _Give me the Normandy and I'll give you command of the Elbrus. I'll give you my flagship, Nepal. _He turned back to Emilio, "Hack into their hardsuit heartrate monitors; give me a fitrep on 'em."

Emilio did as ordered and slowly turned around, "Sir, all their hardsuit monitors ping as KIA, all except for Sand, who's listed as unconscious or in comatose state. This could explain why they're not-"

**"**_**Do you exist to purely point out the obvious!?**_**" **Nepal boomed, causing Emilio to flinch in his seat, "You don't think I can't figure that out!? I don't want the obvious, Emilio, _I want friggin answers! _Fetch me answers!"

Yvette's voice came into his ear from below, "Sir, the Normandy...they've just disengaged dock. They're breaking off and their power is...fully restored."

"How the hell...?" Nepal asked, "How did they restore power?"

"I don't know sir," Yvette answered honestly, "The VI told me the Normandy was completely disabled."

He sighed, turning to look up at the ceiling, "VI, what is the state of the Normandy?"

"Disabled."

He shook his head, unclipped his pistol and shot at the pedestal that served as the VI's voice control, "Piece of shit; never trust a machine to do a human's job. They tricked the VI; I don't know how, but that doesn't matter now. I want the EMP emitter primed and ready to fire. Dante, Yvette bring us around and Dante, prepare to fire."

"We can't sir!" Yvette slammed at her console, panicking, "The drive core...sir, someone has made an energy exchange."

He quickly made the connections in his head, "Fuck! The Normandy's AI...should have known an EMP wouldn't disable it. It must have sapped power from the ship to power it and in the process, took all our energy. What's the status on the ship?"

"Drive core is offline," Emilio reported, "Kinetic Barriers Disabled. Weapons Disabled. Main Power is at 15 percent efficiency. Sir, we're dead in the water."

He whacked Emilio over the forehead with the butt of his pistol, "Sick of hearing what I already know," he stood back to his command chair, "Status on the Normandy?"

"Turning around to bear on us sir," Yvette reported, tears in her eyes, "It looks about ready to open fire."

He threw Emilio out of his seat, sending a message to the Illusive Man telling him that they had failed; the Normandy was still in Shepard's hands. With a sigh, he sent the message and looked back out at the Normandy, who had now deployed their thanix cannon. He looked around the stealth frigate bearing down on them; bearing Cerberus logos, yet firing on them all the same. The Tajikistan was a fine ship, but the Elbrus would have been finer.

As the azure light of the thanix cannon firing blinded him, he could only think of one thing that would be worth remembering in that moment; the stars truly looked beautiful today.

_**A/N:**_

_**A teaser of sorts; couldn't resist. As for that secret fanfic; I'm still working on it. And no, its not a To Survive continuation. I hope you understand that no matter how many of you enjoyed it, it was a sorry attempt at trying to continue an excellent trilogy and a botched attempt at my own closure with its abrupt ending. I hope you understand that I will only be keeping it up to serve as a reminder, not because I'm proud of it. The first couple of chapters were chapters I could never hope to replicate ever again (they were brilliant in my opinion) but the rest...was questionable.**_

_**That leaves two options; a possible continuation of Jacob and Friends, or the revival of HICH.**_


	2. Chapter 1 Chill Out

**REQUIEM**

**CHAPTER ONE:**

**CHILL OUT**

_October 9, 2185_

_0820 hours._

_Cockpit, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, In Orbit around Omega 4 Relay._

_Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau._

Marcus stood and watched as the thanix cannon slammed into the head of the frigate, hitting its bridge first and completely obliderating it. Once the entire forward bow of the ship had been vaporized, the thanix ate through the rest of the vessel and quickly exited out the other end; done feasting on the Cerberus warship in mere seconds, having torn it clean in half, leaving the ship a dead bulk in space.

Molten debris shot apart in all directions; a large section of hull even hitting the relay. Of course, the relay was basically indestructible, so the hull broke apart on impact, not even leaving a dent on the pronged transporter device. Marcus watched with interest as the frigate just floated away, a threat reduced to nothing in the matter of a single shot. The thanix cannon had been vital in destroying the collector cruiser; a vessel of unimaginable firepower, only matched by the Reapers themselves, and it had been destroyed in two shots. Reaper weaponry was unparalelled in those terms. Turian military scientists must be rolling in their graves right now, knowing such a weapon exists and hierarchy warships aren't equipped with it.

Marcus nodded, "EDI, any survivors? Escape pods, further vessels, anything?"

The AI was quick to respond, as always. When he first met the AI a couple of months ago; when he had first taken command of the new, rebuilt Normandy and begun his mission to stop the collectors from abducting human colonies, he had understandably mistrusted her. The Eden Prime War, even though having concluded in victory two years ago, was still a fresh wound on alot of people's minds, and it didn't help that an AI was in a ship that the crew believed to be their home. He had been skeptical.

But as the mission went on, and he spoke more and more with EDI, he had opened up and begun to stop feeling so restricted and felt one thing around it. Trust. It wasn't even an 'it', to the crew anymore. The voice made sure it was known as a 'her' now, which was a big step for the AI. And when the Collectors lured them into a trap and abducted the crew, EDI had saved Joker from a similiar fate and managed to help them escape, cementing their relationship for a while to come.

"My scanners have picked up nothing worth of note or threat," EDI replied, "No escape pods have been detected, and if Cerberus had reinforcements, they most likely would have attempted to attack us by now."

"They've gotten bold. That's for sure," Marcus stated, giving Joker a look, "We've seen Cerberus ships before; they're nowhere near being even on the level of an obsolete turian _corvette. _Just mostly freighters retrofitted with a few cannons and passed off as a warship. But this ship had an EMP emitter; and kinetic barriers. Not to mention a friggin stealth drive. And then he sent it to attack the _Normandy_. I know the Illusive Man to be smart and patient, not to mention conservative. This attack was too stupid, especially for him."

"The Illusive Man has been known to make mistakes in the past," Miranda stated, walking up behind. The Cerberus operative had once been TIM's right-hand woman and one of his most loyal agents, not to mention a pain in Marcus' ass. But as the mission went on, Miranda became more and more loyal to Marcus, losing faith in Cerberus after the incident on the collector cruiser and eventually defecting to Shepard in the end. Her ego hadn't died with her allegiance, however, "The stealth drive on the Normandy was most likely a prototype for further versions. This frigate was possibly the first of many. TIM was always ambitious, but this ship was definitely improved. Last I heard was that he was even planning on building a proper fleet based on Alliance schematics. Dreadnought scale, even."

Marcus scoffed, "That's too ambitious, even for him, and you know it Miranda. What he wants to do would put him on the military scale of the Systems Alliance, and it took them decades to reach their place."

"...after only discovering the technology," Miranda finished for him, "But Cerberus already has the technology, the people and the space stations to do it. Walker Station was only one of many drydocks discreetly hidden throughout the galaxy. If the Illusive Man wants a fleet, he'll have one."

"For what purpose?"

"I doubt he's building an entire fleet just to get you back," Miranda pointed out, "He's most likely doing it to prepare for the coming Reaper threat; which of course, is now closer than ever."

"That's his one redeeming quality," Marcus declared, "That he wants to help stop the Reapers, and he can do that. I would be all ears if he'd just drop the act and get in line behind me, but he's decided that I should follow him or its every man for himself. He may pretend that he's not like most politicians but deep down and below his little act, you can see the roots of it. He may try to hide it, but I can see it. He's not as enigmatic as he seems to think."

"So what now?" Joker asked.

"We set a course for the Citadel," Marcus declared, "I've got to explain this shit to the Council and tell them, once again, that we've just done their crap for them and that they rest easy knowing I've severed all ties with Cerberus. And I'll speak to Anderson about taking out Walker Station. Or at least occupying it. EDI, still got the coordinates?"

"I do, commander," EDI replied, sounding smug, but he shrugged it off as imagination.

"Good. When I meet with Anderson, I'm going to request a joint meeting with Hackett and, if I can push my luck, get Garrong in there too and we'll discuss the Alliance's plans to check Cerberus. Starting with giving the coordinates of Walker Station to Hackett. A little Alliance raid. Garrong is major anti-Cerberus man and would listen to what I have to propose."

"You want to check the Illusive Man's movements?" Miranda asked incredulously, arms crossed, "He's preparing to fight the Reapers, and you want to attack one of his stations?"

"_One_," Marcus lifted a single finger, "One station taken from his grip. But if I can get the Alliance to check enough of Cerberus' movements, TIM should eventually get tired of it and look for exit strategies. But that point, he'll know I'm responsible and look for a way to stop this madness. I'll tell him, unconditionally, to work with us or the Alliance will bring Cerberus down. He has no choice but to agree."

"A sound idea, but this is the Illusive Man we're talking about," Joker told him, spinning his chair around, "You'd have better luck trying to convince a quarian to work with a geth."

Marcus arched a brow at the pilot and grinned. Joker grinned with him before turning to Miranda. The Ex-Cerberus operative sighed and rolled her eyes, turning back to Marcus, "Let's hope it works; we may not like Cerberus, but they're at least getting ready for the Reapers. The rest of the galaxy might as well be sitting on their asses."

"That'll change soon if I have anything to say about it," he turned back to the cockpit, "EDI, you still have the information you and Legion gleaned from the Collector Base?"

"Indeed I do commander," the AI replied, "I have even downloaded schematics of the Human-Reaper for representation."

Marcus shuddered at that memory. The battle with the abomination they had come to call the Human-Reaper hadn't been long, and had been ended with the impact of a simple mini-nuclear device called the M-920 Cain. But the very thought of it existing; how it was created using the melted remains of human bodies and how the Reapers had shaped it in human form...it was a memory that would stay with him forever. But it was gone...as was the Collectors, and their hideous base of horrors.

"Yes. That...abomination does need to be brought up if we're going to prove the Reaper threat is real," Marcus declared, turning to leave the bridge, motioning for Miranda to follow, "Head for the Citadel with best speed; I'm also going to request repairs upon our landing there; those repairs are heavily needed. Can't go flying around like this."

With that, he marched off down the flight deck, Miranda quick behind him. He nodded at the crew that he passed; all of them still heavily traumatized over what had passed. The crew had been abducted by the collectors prior to the final assault, but he had rescued all of them, including Chakwas, Kelly and Lia. But as he passed the yeoman on his way to the elevator, smiling as he did, he noticed the smile on Kelly's features did not reach her eyes.

_She was the worst hit out of all of them. Chakwas is traumatized, but she's quickly recovering and Lia still has recurring nightmares, but Mordin is helping her get through them by working in the lab. Gardner seems barely fazed and Ken and Gabby seem to be their usual cheery selves. But Kelly...I don't know if she'll ever recover. _And as he entered the elevator, Miranda quickly joining him, hitting the button for deck four, he made a note to console her later. _Funny. The psychologist needs the psyche evaluation. _

In the silence of the elevator's descent, he turned to Miranda, "How's our prisoner holding up?"

"Good...in a sense of the word," Miranda smirked, "He's been thrashing around a bit, tried to escape once. If you see a bruise on his forehead, along with one on the back of his head, you can blame Zaeed. We did post him to guard the prisoner anyway."

Marcus managed a small grin as the elevator came to a stop and the door opened. He sighed as he stepped out and once again noticed the broken windows of the corridor, including the newly broken ones that some of the commandos fallen out of to their deaths. He also looked at the huge scorch mark that trailed along the wall to his left. It had been caused by an oculus drone that infiltrated the ship during the attack; but Tali had taken a team and dealt with. But, the bright side was that the scorch mark had made it so one less Cerberus insignia could be seen.

_Once we're in port, it'll be the Cerberus logos I get rid of first. I won't fly under Cerberus banners anymore. _With a sigh, he straightened his stance and resisted the urge to check into engineering. _Tali will be fine, _he kept telling himself, but ever since she had shared herself with him before the assault on the collector base, she had been showing intense signs of fever, and he wanted to know if she was suffering from it. _Don't be foolish. She had the same reaction on the base, and she came out just fine. Quit worrying._

Miranda and himself palmed the door into the garbage disposal open and stepped inside. They saw that the room looked much the same; benches with Zaeed's trinkets on them with the same grey steel walls and a garbage compactor at the back of the room. In the middle however now was one chair; occupying it was Jonathan Sand, former Cerberus commando gone captive. He had been stripped of his armor and weapons of course and given some clothes; but apparently Zaeed wished to torture the man; he wore nothing but underpants while cuffed to the chair. A jest on Zaeed's part, obviously.

Another chair leaned against the wall on two legs infront of them; Zaeed occupying it. He cradled jessie in his lap while he slept; his guttural snores almost being enough to outdo a pig. He was meant to be watching the commando, not sleeping on it, but Marcus couldn't blame him. The entire battle had been exhausting, having to cover ninety kilometers of space station while fighting constant waves of hostiles. Even the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy was exhausted. But of the squad, Zaeed, surprisingly, had been the least wounded out of all of them. A minor concussion and a bullet wound in the hip, but that was it. The mercenary had done well for himself.

Jonathan was asleep as well; eyes closed. Miranda immediately noticed the large bruise on his forehead; along with his matted black hair. His lips were crossed and heavily drawn; a very easily angered man, it would seem. He wasn't heavily muscled either; he looked more like a couch slob than he did a heavily-trained commando. No muscles to be seen aside from a few stand-offish veins popping out along his arms and legs.

Marcus sighed and motioned for Miranda to wake Zaeed up; tired or not, he was sleeping on the job. Marcus stood, arms crossed and watching Jonathan while Miranda grabbed Zaeed's chair and forcefully pulled it back onto solid ground, causing Zaeed to almost rocket out of his chair.

The mercenary immediately sat up, eyes groggy as he wiped at them. Once done, he noticed Miranda and cursed under his breath, "What do you goddam want woman? I'm trying to sleep here!"

"You're meant to be guarding him. Not sleeping," Miranda chastised.

Zaeed rolled his eyes and looked at the prisoner, "The man's sleeping like a little baby; what's there to guard? You should both know that a baby can't break omni-cuffs."

Marcus shook his head before turning back to John and raising his omni-tool. With a single flick of his wrist, the omni-cuffs binding the man disengaged and deactivated, allowing him free movement, but he still hadn't woken. Miranda gave him a quizzical look, but it quickly vanished when Marcus raised his shirt, revealing a magnetic holster attached to the side of his pants and holding a carnifex hand cannon. He then dropped the shirt and turned back to John. With a sigh, he grabbed Zaeed's nearby drink bottle, opened the top and poured it over John's head.

The captive woke with a start, the cold water dripping down his face and down his chest, drenching his hair along with the light stubble on his chin. He gasped as he took in his surroundings, surprised he can suddenly move. He jumped up, obviously not acknowledging the situation, trying to run. But Marcus grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him back down, "Try and escape again, and I will rebind you."

Jonathan finally came to his senses, wiped his face with his hands before looking up at Marcus, a sneer on his face, "I see you kept me alive. Should have killed me."

"Should I have?" Marcus asked, mock curiosity in his tone, "I don't think so. I need you to answer some questions for me before I hand you over to C-Sec. A man like you will be very useful to the Citadel's efforts to keep Cerberus in check."

"Are you fucking stupid enough to think I'd betray the Illusive Man?" Jonathan spat, the sneer never leaving his lips, "I'd die for him if I had to. I'll never betray my patriotic duty."

"I sure hope your patriotic duty didn't revolve around capturing me and my crew to get a promote, because you'd be out of a job," Marcus said, moving to circle Jonathan's chair, "Tell me Mr. Sand, do you really think the Illusive Man will send men to rescue you?"

"Of course he will," Jonathan boldy stated, giving Miranda a cold look, "And he'll make sure you all suffer for your treachery; Cerberus remembers. Always have. We'll get Jacob Taylor...and you Miss Lawson. You'll die; just like all traitors do. A certain scientist by the name of Wilson learnt that."

"Yes, Wilson learnt that because _I _taught him so," Miranda replied, remaining at the back, "And if you think he's going to send men just to rescue you, then you must be a rookie, but I've never known the Illusive Man to save men who are collateral damage. _He terminates them, _Sand."

"You try to fill my head with lies," Jonathan snapped, looking around at the three of them, "All of you, lying. All I see is two traitors and a mercenary who would sell you all out for good dealing of credits."

Marcus turned the chair around to face him and leaned in so his face was inches from Jonathan's, "_Two _traitors, Sand? Last I checked; I never swore allegiance to Cerberus or its goals. I'm not betraying them, merely finishing my contract. I consider myself a mercenary in that regard; I do something for them, or in my case, _with _them, then I leave when my contract is terminated. Simple as that."

"I couldn't care less about you leaving Cerberus," Jonathan growled, seemingly perputually full of anger, "You betrayed your entire _species_. That makes you a traitor in my eyes. You name a turian your brother and welcome a suit-rat into your bed; you defile the very name of the species you call yourself by."

Marcus resisted the urge to punch him, "I betrayed noone; tell me, if I were to help a Englishman cross a river, would I be a traitor to Israel? No, I wouldn't. This galaxy has to stand united if we're going to destroy the Reapers, and Cerberus' pathetic racial prejudices isn't going to help."

"Tell me, does her moaning help you fight the Reapers?"

This time, he did punch Jonathan, and he punched him hard. Jonathan's head twisted to the left violently, and for a second Marcus thought the strike had broken his neck, but his head quickly turned back around, blood oozing from a broken nose. He spat blood in Marcus' face, snarling as he did. Marcus shook his head and moved to leave, "Had enough have you!? Gone to fuck her? Go on; I'll be right here you xenophilic traitor!"

"Zaeed," Marcus stopped, turning to the placid mercenary, "Gag this son of a bitch. His insults make me want to do it myself, but I don't think I'd earn much from it. I'm sure you'll enjoy it though," Zaeed nodded, moving over to Jonathan with a smile while Marcus left, Miranda behind him.

"Commander," Miranda spoke from behind him and he sighed as he hit the button to summon the elevator.

"I know Miranda," he told her without turning around, "I'm an idiot for doing that; I don't even know what I went in there to do really. Interrogate him? Torture him? Get information from him? I just don't know."

"That's all well and nice," Miranda told him, standing next to him, "But what I was going to say is that you've got some blood on your face."

He laughed then; it started as a snort and turned into laughter as he wiped the blood from his face and flicked it onto the steel floor, still grinning when he turned to Miranda, "Thanks Miranda...don't think the crew would be comfortable with me leading them, with blood all over my face."

His XO smirked, "I don't know; it would look very intimidating. You really should try the whole renegade pose'; you'd do it well."

"Sorry, I'm the perfect paragon," Marcus stated overexaggeratedly waving his arms dramatically, "Besides, I'm sure you'd make the perfect renegade; you know, _being _perfect and all."

"Yes I am," Miranda stated firmly, "The perfect woman; don't you doubt it. I'm still available, if you're interested."

"You're very attractive Miranda, I'll admit it," Marcus told her, giving her a bare glance, "But I've given myself to Tali and _only _Tali. And as good as you are, I'm starting to believe Miss vas Normandy is closer to perfection than you are."

"Great, our hero appears to be a prince charming. Roll in with the cliches why don't we," Miranda smiled, "And since when was it 'Miss vas Normandy?'"

To his credit, Marcus blushed slightly, but quickly recovered, "Since I decided her first name wasn't good enough; repeating it gets boring after awhile. Allow myself some variety, you know?" He looked back at the still closed elevator, "Fuck sake these elevators are _slow. _Should be here by now."

Right on que, the door opened and Miranda stepped inside. Just as Marcus was about to however...well all the talk of Tali had made him long to see her, and they weren't really doing anything important right now; the actual repairs would start upon arrival at the Citadel, so...

"Commander?" Miranda asked, back in her all business mood.

"I won't be taking the elevator Miranda," Marcus decided, turning to engineering, "I'll see you on the cockpit later on."

With that, he took off into engineering, deciding to enter through the right so he could speak with Gabby and Ken first. He smiled as he entered, watching as Gabby slapped Ken on the shoulder for most likely _another _snarky comment he had made. He swore, if these two weren't best friends, they'd be a couple, as cliched as it sounded.

He could hear snippets of their conversation. He just stopped, deciding to wait until they were finished before interrupting. As he did, however, he saw that engineering hadn't survived the onslaught of the Normandy's crash landing either; the drive core didn't hum as loudly and sparks flew from blown consoles up above, along with a metal beam that had collapsed along the catwalk leading to the drive core itself. Engineering was definitely in a bad way. Ken wasn't even working at his console; he was working with Gabby because his had exploded and blown out.

Gabby sighed as she continued to run through her console settings and state the status of the ship, "This a big mess, Kenneth, take it seriously. Look at this; the forward tanks need to be buoyant and elevated, and for the most part they are, but they won't hold long! We seriously need to reach the Citadel soon or sooner or this ship's going to be running on fumes."

"They're supposed to be buoyant and elevated?" Ken replied with his typical, thick scottish accent, "Are you talking about the Normandy...or Miranda?" His voice lingered on Miranda's name longer than it should have, making him sound like a love sick schoolboy.

He could practically feel Gabby rolling her eyes, "I'm talking about the one that's covered and protected, not bouncing in the breeze."

He heard Tali laugh from around the corner, "She's got a point, Ken."

Ken shrugged, "I don't know. Operative Lawson's uniform is _very _official. It always makes me stand at attention, if ya catch me meanin."

"A drunk child could catch your meaning Ken," Gabby replied, slapping him on the shoulder again, "Now will you stop daydreaming about our XO and get back to work?"

"_Just _the XO?" Ken replied, smiling devilishly, "How about that Jack chick, eh? I hear she wears nothing but tattooes from the waist up. I would have welcomed her aboard, but...well, ya see, I've got some stuff to do, so I never got the chance."

"Stop it. Seriously," Gabby replied.

"Oh, but I've got one more fine lass to compliment," Ken replied, snatching a look at who obviously had to be Tali, "But one more moment; the Normandy's a she right? Not a he?"

"Yeah...," Gabby trailed off.

"And EDI is a she? Tali is _definitely _a she," Ken trailed on.

"What are you getting at, Kenneth?" Gabby asked impatiently.

"I'm just saying that I will feel a wee bit threatened here," Ken replied, trying to look terrified, "So much female energy; its nothing but women. And I'm just one man."

"You're such a dick," Gabby replied with annoyance, turning back to her console.

Kenneth pointed his finger at her accusingly, "See! Look where your mind went. I'd better watch out for myself," he turned to Tali again, grin returning to his features, "I can't complain all that much though. I mean," he leaned closer to Gabby, whispering, "What do you think of our quarian boss?"

"Hush," Gabby tried to shut him up, "She's right over there."

"Ah," Ken scoffed, "She can't hear us with that bucket on her head. Don't get me wrong; its a beautiful bucket. The whole suit is lovely. Quite snug, _in all the right places._"

Marcus hid and held a chuckle as he approached, but watched as Tali beat him to the punch, stopping behind Kenneth. He examined her features and saw that she had been hard at work; her purple veil had been laid out on her console and her lithe, black suited form was covered in grease and scorch marks where she had been almost electrocuted. She looked different without the hood covering her head; almost looked weird. Her omni-tool had been active and she held a screwdriver and spanner in the same grip.

She spotted Marcus and waved at him, smiling behind the mask. She held up one finger, telling him to hang on a minute before turning to Ken, who now faced her, "Are you slacking on the job, Donnelly?" She asked, pretending to be angry.

"No ma'am I...," Ken stuttered and Marcus could tell Gabby was barely containing her mirth.

"Well, if you don't make yourself useful, you'll find your own clothing will be alot more snug when I'm done gutting you," Tali growled, slamming a screwdriver into his grip before jabbing a thump in the direction of an open vent, "I want us looking presentable when we reach the Citadel docks; not looking like a half-drunk child put this ship together. Get in that vent and deactivate any potentially dangerous panels. _**Get moving**_!" She ordered and Ken immediately snapped, a salute moving over to the vent, mumbling to himself.

"So many feisty women," Ken mumbled, going prone and preparing to crawl into the vent, "I'm in heaven."

Tali whorled around, kicking his feet and causing him to let out a gasp at the sudden pain shooting up his ankle, "_**Move it!**_ _**Flattery will not save you in my engine room! Not at all!**_" Done yelling, Tali turned towards him and motioned for him to follow her into the drive core chamber, using a dirtied rag to wipe her gloves. Marcus nodded at Gabby as he went past and the engineer smiled back, nodding as he did.

The two of them finally met at the main drive core control console and turned to face each other, Marcus smiling, "Getting used to being chief engineer?"

Tali shook her head, leaning against the console, "I've had two months to get used to it, and I've taken mostly from Adams; he was a good teacher to me. I only learn from the best."

He smiled and took her hand, holding it in his.

Tali looked up at him and shook her head, "Just so you know...I am still running a fever and..." she raised one hand, as if to block her nose as she sneezed, "...and I've got a nasty cough..." like on que, she coughed three ragged coughs, "...and my sinuses are filled with something I cannot even begin to describe," she shot him a knowing look and then giggled. Before he knew it, she looked up, grabbed him by the belt buckle and pulled him into her embrace before she whispered into his ear, "But it was totally worth it."

Those words alone made him shiver and she smiled, kissing her on the neck. He yearned to be able to kiss her actual neck; just as he yearned to make love to her again. But he knew he musn't; he would let her recover from her fever before giving her another one and wait until she wanted it. They waited a few more seconds before reluctantly parting, but holding each other at arms length.

"So, this ship got pretty banged up, hey?" Marcus asked, gesturing at the ship. Tali nervously laughed, looking at the state of the vessel she served on.

"You can say that again," Tali replied, following the area his eyes glazed over, "Yet again, the whole ship is a mess. Garrus wants my help with a coolant leak in the gunnery station later and Kasumi is convinced she can here drilling sounds from behind the bar in the lounge; we've got our work cut out for us until we can reach the Citadel," the quarian turned to him and sagged alittle, "That means...that means we won't be seeing each other alot; at least not until night time and a few words exchanged in bed. Apart from that...I think we'll both be pretty busy until we reach the Citadel in a couple days."

"I can't see you all the time, we both know that," Marcus replied confidently, touching his forehead to her visor, "But it'll be over soon. Once we reach the Citadel and the repairs are done, it'll be business as usual, just without the collectors, just alot of politics. We'll get more time together. Another date, perhaps?"

Tali grinned, "Sounds like a date."

"Miss vas Normandy, I do believe you just punned me," Marcus replied, mockingly disappointed, "I am ashamed."

Tali's laughter echoed through the ship, "I don't know what a pun is, but I'm sure you'll tell me."

"Is that true?" Marcus asked, smiling, "Then you'll have to tell me what a bosh'tet is."

"In all due time, Marcus."

They talked for a bit longer before exchanging goodbyes and getting back to work; and Tali was right, they would have their work cut out for them.

He just hoped they got to the Citadel sooner, rather than later.

**{Loading...}**

_October 9, 2185_

_1025 hours._

_VICINITY UNKNOWN. DATA INCOMPLETE. LOCATION UNKNOWN._

_The Shadow Broker._

He was doing his job right at least; agents had been dispatched all over the galaxy to find and counter T'Soni's movements. Everything was falling into place; it was a chess board, and his pieces were quickly moving into place for a checkmate. Illium was the biggest target, and he had most of the agents dispatched there, but he wasn't going to start sending in the ground troops until it seemed the situation was out of hand; which it rarely was for the Shadow Broker.

Liara T'Soni had always hated the Shadow Broker; ever since he had 'supposedly' killed that drell lover of hers, Feron. Now the asari archaelogist turned broker seemed determined to bring down the Broker's entire network and find him. Of course, the Shadow Broker had never taken her movements seriously; he had covered his tracks well; he didn't reach this position without certainty. But now the asari was onto something; he didn't know how, but the asari had a lead, and that was a threat. She had to be eliminated.

This would be easy, had it not been for the inevitable wrath of Commander Marcus Shepard; a man the Broker had kept keen eyes on. He had heard of the man's achievements during the Eden Prime War, how he had died a month later and mysteriously returned two years later. And now, less than a couple of hours ago, her agents reported that the Normandy had returned from the Omega 4 Relay, destroyed a Cerberus stealth frigate and quickly made headway for the Citadel. He was a threat to his plan. To _their _plan.

Marcus Shepard didn't have brokers; but he did have Liara T'Soni has a friend, and if Liara were to find their location and bring Shepard along...that would also mean bringing Tali'Zorah along, and that would definitely interest one of them, that's for certain. They had watched over Tali'Zorah for quite awhile, that was certain.

For _he_ wasn't the Shadow Broker. At least, he was only half of the Broker. _She _was the other half. Two people sharing the same role. He conducted operations, she gave the orders, while scarcely hidden away. Noone even knew she existed.

She wasn't a hateful person, but she knew a threat when she saw one. She also noticed that Cerberus agents were beginning to clash with hers, and that had to stop. The Illusive Man, she knew, had increased his network ever since the Collector defeat so he could retake the Normandy; Shepard had severed ties with Cerberus. The Shadow Broker despised Cerberus; and although her network was far superior to theirs, they were still a threat she wished gone from this galaxy. Not that she could; even she didn't know the location of their central command. The Illusive Man's location was a mystery she would never figure out. As was hers to him.

An update appeared on her terminal and she raised both her hands, typing away at it. When it was done, she looked over the information and found that T'Soni definitely had some hard on information, so she would have to act fast. She paged a communication line with one of her best agents and sent an order through the other part of the Broker for him to send to the agent to have her put on standby and sent to Illium. If Liara made any further moves, the agent would strike hard and fast.

She would also have to keep an eye on this salarian agent of Liara's; a man by the name of Sekat. Apparently he was doing data running for her and had his own band of agents; of course he did. She ran a file check on him and brought up his dossier, discovering that he used to be one of _her _agents before he betrayed her to Liara. He never knew the location of the Broker, but he had his suspicions. He had always evaded her, but now he was on Illium, and helping Liara no less.

That would end soon. The Shadow Broker was a merciful person when she wanted to be, but when she wasn't, she let the other half do the work. He loved disposing of agents they didn't need anymore; it was his job. And he did it well, as much as it disgusted her.

She leaned back in her chair and took the cup of coffee from her desk and placed a straw in it, inserting it into her tube and taking a long deep sip.

_She won't be a threat much longer. Now, what are you up to Tali'Zorah..._

**{Loading...}**

_October 9, 2185_

_1310 hours._

_Shuttle Bay, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, In FTL inbound for the Citadel._

_Subject Zero Jack._

She loved the feeling of her biotics pulsing through her; it made her feel alive and full of energy, even if it was slightly electrifying. She felt invincible whenever the feeling consumed her; a biotic powerhouse able to plow through anything and everything with a single stroke of a wrist or kick of a foot. But when she stretched her arm out and felt the fire that was the pain in her bicep, she gasped, the biotic power dying away, realizing just how vulnerable she really was.

She sighed and forced her way through the pain and shot a biotic warp forward, taking one of the crates fully and sending it flying across the bay to land at the massive blast doors. This movement only managed to amplify her pain tenfold and she bent over in pain, letting a little scream fall through her teeth, seeing as noone was around.

When around people, she was Jack, the invulnerable ticking-biotic-timebomb just waiting for someone to insult her or piss her off so she could detonate. The enigmatic woman covered in tattooes that torn apart mercenaries, Cerberus and Collectors alike. She was scared of nothing; _feared_ nothing. She was tough; emotionless, yet her anger was omnipotent. Noone wanted to piss her off.

But when she was alone, she was the girl without a name, without a family, without someone to love her. She was scared, alone and afraid. She'd use her biotics and anger to cover up her fear and despair and whenever someone implored, she would act all tough to cover up the tears that secretly wanted to burst out of her eyes. She wasn't a biotic powerhouse; she was a biotic powerhouse fuelled by a deadly maelstrom of melancholy and vehemence. A hybrid substance so reactive, she might as well be francium.

Secretly, when noone was looking, she would try to remember her mother and father's face during her time living on Eden Prime, but couldn't even remember that. She had brother at one point, but couldn't remember that either. She could even remember her captive's faces. She had had hair once, a brown haired ponytail, but that was gone; leaving her plain bald and covered in tattooes. She wasn't who she pretended to be. Sometimes, she would even cry herself to sleep.

She tried to throw another warp, but this time her body gave into the pain and she collapsed against the bulkhead, sliding to the floor to land on her ass with a thump. She felt a tear streak down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away. _Noone has ever given a shit about me. They'll either use me for sex, money or simply because I'm a powerful biotic bitch. Even the crew doesn't know what to think of me; should they be scared? Or would they like to fuck me? Oh, and I admit, I fucking love it. Sex is fucking fantastic. And that's just it; should I be enjoying it? I love it, and then afterwards I complain about how they used me to get into my cunt. Am I retarded, or do I complain for the sake of complaining?_

The only people she ever saw out of combat was Tali, Shepard, Gardner and the occassional person in the mess hall. She talked to Zaeed more often then she'd admit, but that was only because they shared similiar views on life. The quarian had balls, she'd admit that; Jack would tell her to piss off and the quarian would ask her to calm down and whenever Jack threatened to gut her, Tali would reply with; 'I'm an engineer. Come anywhere near me, and I could send a current barelling towards at 30,000 volts a second. You'd never get your biotics up. So go ahead, try and kill me' before disappearing into a vent. And all the while, Jack would just smirk.

Then there was Shepard; the king of the boy scouts. Damn the man. He would always take the time to come and see her and talk to her when noone else would. Of course, he didn't see anyone as much as he saw Tali; they were impractically inseperable, but Shepard _cared. _She had even offered him sex once, but he countered with 'I'm in a relationship and you can't just fuck your way out of everything.' She was both disappointed and happy for his rejection. Someone gave a fuck.

And as much as it frightened her and excited her and disgusted her, she actually had _feelings _for him. Did she love him? Fuck no, but she felt something for him. Something that got her hormones pulsing whenever he was near. Sometimes she would try and hug him and cry on his shoulder, but he was always gone before she broke like that. Jack knew she didn't have a chance with him; he was far too loyal to Tali'Zorah vas Normandy; the quarian who definitely deserved him.

With a sigh, she stood up steadily and was moving to continue her self-training when the elevator door opened. She turned around and rolled her eyes when she saw the asari justicar, Samara, step out and look at her, expressionless gaze seeming to read right through her. _God she's annoying; all righteous and crap. Makes the cheerleader seem just barely tolerable._

"Jack," Samara greeted, "I see you have been hard at work."

"Of course I have," That was Jack speaking, not the child, "Nothing else to do, and the queen of engineering seems to think I'm just in the way, so why the fuck don't I do something? I'm no tech; not like I can help with anything. Don't even know why I'm here, actually. Could have left already. Maybe I'll leave when we reach the Citadel."

"But you won't, because you know you'll have nowhere to go," Samara replied, hands clasped behind her back and examining the scene before her, words subjective to hundreds of years of living, learning and fighting, "Cerberus will never stop hunting you and if you return to the normal world, you'd just have to deal with what you've dealt with before. A repetitive lifestyle. At least here, you have a purpose. An enemy we all share."

"Yeah yeah, whatever princess. I think I'll keep my inner problems to myself from now on," Jack replied, kicking a crate biotically before turning back to the justicar, "Any particular reason you're here? Or are you here to teach me whoopty-fucking-do-dah?"

"I came here to examine your fighting techniques," the justicar replied cooly, barely fazed by Jack's harshness, "It is effective, yet savage and disjointed. It has no form; no organization to it. You rely solely on brute force to crush your foes, but have no continegency for when you're on the defensive."

"So fucking what?" Jack snapped, "Are you going to teach me?"

"If you'd like," Samara replied, "I find myself much in the same position as you. Meditation can only do much for me; silence is what I require, noise is what I am delivered. The sounds of repairs are not the envirnoment for the soothing of the soul. I believe training for us is a mutual task. However, I could teach you many things. You are a powerful biotic, but your power is disjointed and used recklessly. Should you be taught to use it adequently; then maybe you can harness your power. I would help you do this, if you would allow me the pleasure of doing so."

"You're helping a wanted criminal?" Jack asked incredulously, plopping herself down on one of the flight control consoles in the bay, "Doesn't that go against your code or some shit?"

"In many cases, you'd be correct," Samara told her, "But the code allows for contradictions. For example; a criminal who has recently done a good deed so great in scope that it absolves them of all their past activities is considered worthy of leniency. This makes it so you are absolved of any crimes in sight of the code. In this matter, I do not take any action against you."

"Sure, whatever," the biotic replied, "Well...if you're going to teach me, you might as well try now."

Samara raised an eyebrow, "You are currently injured; we should start with how to use your biotics while injured."

"I know how to-" Jack began to object.

"You do not," Samara replied sternly, "Do not think I'm fooled by the disguise you have assembled. You are troubled, frightened and your life is full of horror. I have never had the chance to experience fear, but I have experienced many horrors in my life. I am not asking you to show me your true self, merely to quit pretending."

"Good, because it's none of your fucking business," Jack replied harshly before turning to the bay, "Do we begin or what?"

Samara merely nodded and they moved into the center of the bay, Jack taking the end and Samara taking the side with the elevator. Jack sighed heavily as Samara unclasped her hands from behind her back and faced Jack, pulsing with biotic energy. Jack quickly followed.

"You must learn to control yourself," Samara dictated, "You must-"

Jack roared and shot a biotic warp at the asari rapidly. To her surprise, the asari saw it coming and deflected the shot easily before sending a shockwave in her direction. Jack easily leapt over it, but quickly discovered it for a trap and was hit full in the face by another shockwave. She was thrown to the ground and before she could get up, Samara seemed to use her biotics to teleport infront of the convict, foot firmly positioned ontop of her throat and pressing down to keep her there. Jack growled.

Samara shook her head, "This is why you must control yourself. Your actions are predictable; easily countered if fighting the right enemy. A mercenary may be fooled, but a commando will not be."

"How the fuck did you do that?" Jack asked, "That teleporting shit."

"It is an ancient technique learnt by only the most well-tempered of asari. Many other races have attempted it, and some have succeeded," the justicar informed her, releasing her boot from Jack's neck, "And it is not teleportation, literally speaking. It involves utilizing your biotics to make yourself a weightless object before projecting yourself much like a bullet discharging from a gun. The effect is fast enough that it looks like teleporation. We asari call the technique 'Biotic Leap,' or simply 'biotic jumping.'"

"Can I learn it?" Jack asked, "That seems like some sick shit."

"As I have said before, it can only be learned by the most well-tempered of students," Samara declared, moving back to her original position, "You must learn to control yourself first; biotic leap requires tolerance and a huge amount of patience. It is not an easy technique to learn."

Jack groaned as she got to her feet, wincing at her side. Samara's counterattacks had really winded her, "How long will that take?"

"As long as it takes for you to learn," Samara replied, turning to face her again, "Asari learn quickly, but you are human. You are very much different and all different again in genetic, mental and physical diversity. You all have different learning curves. I must see yours first before we hope to change you. Evolve you."

Jack simply smiled as she stepped back into a 'neutral position'; two feet beside each other and hands clasped at her sides. She then bowed deeply before returning to a fighting stance, shit-eating grin still on her face, "Whatever you say, sensei."

"Sensei?" Samara asked, confused, "I do not recognize the term."

"It means 'person born before another' in Japanese," said a voice from near by that Jack recognized she turned to the source with frustration, watching the form of Kasumi decloak. _Why did she have to wake up from that tranquilizer? _Kasumi simply grinned, "But it can also be used as a meaning for 'teacher', as its found in many martial arts."

"I see," Samara replied, turning back to Jack, a simple smile on her face, "Then, we shall begin our lesson...young student."

**{Loading...}**

_October 9, 2185_

_1502 hours._

_'Humanity's Sanctum', Upper Levels, Cronos Station, Anadius System._

_The Illusive Man, First Lieutenant Geoff Dielheart._

"Has there been an update from the Tajikistan?"

Geoff gulped as he stood out of the darkness and fully into the light, datapad hooked under one arm as he allowed the light of Anadius to reveal his appearence. Geoff was a grizzled man; he had heavy stubble around his chin, a few pimples on the side of his face, heavy-lidded eyes and puffy lips. His wife had died during the First Contact War and he had been forced to raise his son, Carter, by himself. But he was a loyalist to the bone; and loyal only to Cerberus. Even Miranda had limits to her loyalty.

Geoff cleared his throat as he spoke, "The Tajikistan was destroyed by the Normandy sir; we just received a message from Captain Nepal stating so. It would appear we have underestimated the Normandy and her crew sir."

"Noted," TIM stated, angered. _I should have seen it coming. Commander Shepard, taken down by a platoon of commandos were are really just well-dressed mercenaries? I shouldn't have expected them to get their jobs done. Andrew Nepal was a great captain, one I'd rely on heavily, but I guess its my fault sending him to take the Normandy with a stealth frigate and a mediocre crew. If I had given him the Elbrus...well, too late to dwell on things like that now. The Normandy is still space worthy and worst of all...not under my control. We have to change that, _"Do we know where the Normandy is headed now?"

"No sir," Geoff informed him.

The Illusive Man pondered on what Shepard would do. _Nepal informed me the Normandy was severely damaged; which means its wounded and needs repairs. He can't go to Walker Station for obvious reasons, same with Omega. Alliance docks would reject him simply for flying Cerberus colors and Illium would demand too high a price. That leaves..._

"Have our agents on the Citadel get ready for the Normandy's arrival. He's coming," TIM declared, not even turning to look at Geoff, "And make sure to specifically order them _not _to engage the Normandy crew, merely observe. We will retake it, but for now, I'll let Shepard run the show. Let him speak to the Council. Hopefully they'll listen to him this time."

He was still angry with Shepard for the destruction of the Collector Base. He had suggested purging the base with a radiation pulse so they could keep the collector and reaper technology inside, but Shepard had stubbornly insisted on reducing it to rubble, resulting in its destruction, along with the Human-Reaper. _If I had managed to acquire the wreckage of that Reaper...my scientists would have learnt the secrets quickly, and we'd be one step closer to learning how to control them. Moot point now of course. But if I can somehow acquire that IFF again..._

The only Reaper they knew about was the Derelict Reaper that had once orbitted Mnemosyne, but its IFF had been taken by Shepard for the Normandy crew per his orders and finding another from it was out of the question as Shepard had quickly sent it hurling into Mnemosyne's core, destroying the Reaper wreck and leaving him empty handed. The only other Reaper they would find was...

...the wreckage of Sovereign. Sovereign had lead the geth two years ago during the Eden Prime War and had been present during the Battle of the Citadel. Of course, thanks to Shepard's defeat of its servant, Saren Arterius, Sovereign's defenses had been lowered enough for the Normandy SR-1 to descend the final blow, destroying it. Finding wreckage of it would be difficult; it was in the hands of hierarchy, alliance, republic and union scientists and laboratories, but if he dispatched teams to find the wreckage and find the IFF...

"Geoff, also flag our agents in the Alliance," TIM ordered, taking a sip of his whiskey, "I want them scouring everything they can find and trying to find any pieces of Sovereign they can and bring them to Cerberus labs for examination. I want Sovereign's IFF found. If we can find it, I'll equip it to as many ships as possible and send them through the Omega 4 Relay. Maybe the debris of the collector base will help us."

"Right away sir," with that, Geoff nodded, bowed and left, leaving TIM in merciful quiet. He thought about all he had lost but was gaining. _I've lost Shepard. I've lost Miranda. I've lost EDI. I've lost Chambers, Daniels, Donnelly and Gardner. I've lost Jacob. I've lost the Normandy. But soon I will have an army of supersoldiers. I will have a fleet capable of effectively countering the Alliance. I will be able to stage operations on a much grander scale. I have Oleg Petrovsky. I have Geoff Dielheart. I have the Elbrus. I have Kai Leng, the blunt instrument he maybe, but great killer he is. For everything I lose, I gain something new. All I need now is something to replace EDI..._

He commed his terminal, "Geoff, get me a secure comm with the Styx Cell."

A few moments passed before Geoff secured the link to the head of the Styx Cell, Agent Decumbry, "You requested to see me sir?"

The Styx Cell was responsible for the creation of EDI and most of Cerberus' VIs and AIs. They would do well creating yet another AI, this one even more loyal than the first, "Yes, I want you to develop an AI, this one completely from scratch."

"Another one sir?" Kyle Decumbry asked with a frown, "I thought we were done with AI ever since the Enhanced Defense Intelligence went rogue."

TIM nodded, taking whiff from his cigarette, "We have, but this time I want it built from scratch and with more safeguards; I want it to be as emotionless as a geth and loyal _only _to me. It'll still be of feminisitic personality and..." _I can't make the same mistake as last time and make it a part of the Elbrus. But if I gave it a body..._"...I also want a combat infiltration unit built for it; humanoid based. It'll serve as an infiltration unit."

"Very well sir," Decumbry concluded, "What shall we call the project?"

It took a moment for him to think of something, and he was surprised at where his memories lingered. He remembered Eva, her beautiful features; her hair, her cheeks, her eyes. He had been close friends with Eva; even had feelings for her, but that had been when he was known as Jack Harper. That had all stopped when he had watched her die on Palaven, killed by the hands of Saren Arterius himself just after the conclusion of the First Contact War, which he himself had fought in. Just before he had written the manifesto for the declaration of Cerberus and naming himself 'The Illusive Man.'

"Project: Eva," TIM decided, "The AI will be called Eva, named after Doctor Eva Core."

"Very well sir. We'll update you on our results," With that, Decumbry cut the comms and TIM relaxed in his seat, looking back at Anadius. He sighed heavily, breathing in and out. _The pawns fall into place. If I'm lucky, Cerberus' armies and fleets will be ready within the next several months; maybe by Febuary next year. Oleg will lead my armies and Kai Leng will be my assassin. Eva will my infiltrator and Geoff my second-in-command. _He brought up a schematic of Omega next, thinking best how to approach Aria.

But first, he had other concerns. A certain benefactor, if it could be soon called that. He put the schematic of Omega under his bookmarks and brought up a file on the Shadow Broker.

_Yes, and alliance would serve both of us some good. We could...join forces._

An interesting prospect indeed.

Shepard was good at blowing up things he didn't agree with. But its kinda hard to blow up an enemy who knows what you do before you even do it.

**"The Citadel repairs would take a while, that's for sure."**

**- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.**

**"Meanwhile, nothing basically happens. Or so we thought."**

**- Marcus Shepard.**

_**A/N:**_

_**I don't know if you guys even watch Game of Thrones or have read the A Song of Ice and Fire books, but for those who have, I seriously think the Shadow Broker was inspired by Lord Varys. Their tasks are almost EXACTLY the same. The resemblance is uncanny. The personalities aren't the same, of course, but their roles...yeah...**_

_**Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to return to finishing Season 5 of Breaking Bad (or play Assassin's Creed IV, which is a great game btw (fucking fantastic)). Enjoy your taste of Requiem.**_

_**As for the new fanfic update, I gave up on that, but it was a Jacon and Friends sequel. I'll probably continue it at some point (I need to watch more comedies. Monty Python might help). Either way, yeah. As for those expecting HICH, I REALLY want to continue that story, but it just doesn't look like its going to happen. I'm sincerely sorry. Maybe in another life I might, or even when this quadrilogy is finished (still haven't come up with a name for it. Could do with some suggestions).**_

_**Enjoy life peoplez.**_

_**Keelah Se'lai.**_


	3. Chapter 2 Benevolence At Hand

**REQUIEM**

**CHAPTER TWO:**

**BENEVOLENCE AT HAND**

_October 12, 2185_

_0922 hours._

_Docking Station 9, Shalta Docks, Shalta Wards, The Citadel._

_Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Chief Engineer Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Gunnery Master Garrus Vakarian, Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko, Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau._

"Roger that Normandy, you are clear for landing. Welcome to the Citadel, and please enjoy your stay," with that, the C-Sec Controller disconnected the comms and the Normandy brought itself towards the directed opening. All of those present remembered it from two years ago; the dock that the Normandy had used during the majority of the Eden Prime War; now being used again. Marcus had to say that he preferred it; the Zakera Ward Dock just wasn't as accomodating.

He turned to his team, "We'll be landing soon, but shore leave doesn't commence until I've met with the Council. We may have cut ties with Cerberus, but in their eyes, we're still a liable security threat."

"And members of Cerberus," Garrus deadpanned, look exasperated, "They still don't believe the Reapers exist, so why should they believe anything else we say? Us showing up in the Normandy only aims to help their point of view, not to mention the Cerberus uniforms."

"Which is why the crew is not leaving the ship yet," Marcus firmly stated, "Noone, that is, except Kasumi and Kelly. While we meet with the Council, Kasumi and Kelly are going to the supermarket to buy new clothing; we are removing all existence of Cerberus from this ship, starting today. This ship will get a new paintjob, new insignias, new uniforms, new everything. Even Joker will get a proper cap. Once clothes are purchased, we can depart."

"How are we going to convince the Council to pay for the repairs?" Kaidan asked skeptically, "The repairs will number in the millions; the Council was never willing to provide their spectres with equipment; why start now?"

"I still don't get that," Tali mumbled but Marcus pointedly tried to dismiss the topic.

"Hopefully we'll get that resolved. You know me, I can be quite convincing," that got them grinning. He turned back to Joker, he was waiting for him to finish, "Miranda's got the ship Joker; do as she tells you. Unless those orders involve taking the ship to the nearest Cerberus space station."

Joker rolled his eyes, "Its my bones that are crippled Shepard; not my wits. Lay off. Just piss off and the Council to do shit for us."

Marcus smiled and slapped the man gently on the shoulder before leading his team into the airlock; he had only taken the squad he had from the original Normandy; just so he could rub it in the Council's faces that they weren't done fighting, even if they had. Maybe with these schematics, they'd come around. He'd have EDI or Legion present the findings, but it was understandable why both were completely out of the question. But on second thought...

He turned to Tali, "Contact Legion. Tell it to meet us at the airlock."

The quarian frowned at him but did as she was ordered anyway, sending a message to the geth infiltrator through her omni-tool before turning back to face Marcus, "Why are we bringing a geth onto the Citadel? You do realize what kind of a panic that would ensue, right?"

"I do, but I have an idea," Marcus told her, "The Council have obviously convinced themselves that Sovereign was a geth superdreadnought. But with Legion, we have all the evidence to show them that they are feeding themselves bullshit."

Garrus guffawed, "That's so stupid it might actually work."

Legion, with all the effiency of a machine, must have left immediately, as it was in the airlock a second later. "Shepard-Commander," it greeted. He nodded at the geth, and they all waited for the decontamination process to cycle through before the airlock opened and they were able to step out onto the dock. Without further hesitation, they all turned towards the elevator, eager to get this over with.

They all quickly entered the elevator, Marcus hitting the button for the C-Sec Academy for stepping back, hands clasped behind him. He wore his N7 hoodie and cap, while Kaidan wore one of his t-shirts he had brought onboard from Horizon. Garrus wore his armor, as he always did. The elevator design looked exactly the same from all that time ago, not looking to have changed one bit. Even the news reporter was the same.

As they descended, Marcus turned to Legion and immediately hit another idea, taking off his jumper. Everyone looked at him oddly until he started fitting the jumper over Legion, only just fitting the platform. The geth looked confused, as much as it could, but that stopped when Marcus placed the hood over the geth's optics, hiding it from view.

"That should disguise you well enough until we reach the human embassy," Marcus declared, turning back to the door, wearing only his jeans and single N7 shirt now. Garrus looked amused by the sight of Legion in a human's hoodie, while Kaidan paid no mind. Tali didn't seem to notice either, but that was expected; the quarian still didn't fully trust Legion, and that was understandable.

He also remembered just how slow the elevators were on this part of the Citadel. Those were not fun memories.

The elevator finally came to a halt in C-Sec Academy, and the pane of glass that served as a door slid into the floor, allowing them passage. The five of them stepped out of the elevator and onto the tiled floor of the academy, and they all quickly noticed that this place had barely changed either; of course, there was a ladder strawn across a wall and a few cranes, and Marcus could see missing walls and their insides. The Citadel was still under repairs from the battle, even two years after its conclusion.

They managed to weave their way through the crowd of C-Sec officers mingling about, along with the occassional recruit, and made their way over to the rapid transit terminal nearby. Marcus noticed two C-Sec officers stationed at the door leading into the spectre requisitions office, both holding assault rifles. And the more he noticed, every doorway now had guards posted.

He turned to Garrus, "This place looks far more heavily guarded than two years ago; I knew security was tight, but two guards at _every _junction? That's a bit excessive, don't you think?"

"The geth attack showed just how vulnerable the Citadel really is," Garrus replied as they waited for their taxi, "C-Sec had to really double security. I hear their even being called a militia now, as well as military police. The presence of the Alliance on the station also doubled the C-Sec population, so yeah, they have more officers at their disposal now. Allows for promotions; explains Bailey commanding the Zakera Ward. But all these guards...I have to agree, it seems really excessive. They don't usually do this unless they suspect a terrorist attack."

Marcus simply nodded, crossing his arms and frowning. _Terrorist attack. Was Cerberus here recently? Could they know we're here? _The thought flew away as their taxi arrived and they all got inside, the spectre asking to be taken to the Citadel Embassies. The squad all lay back and watched as the taxi took off, leaving the Academy and flying down the Ward, towards the Presidium ring.

He heard Tali sigh next to him and dump her head on his shoulder, breathing lightly. Marcus smiled and kissed the top of her hood, before looking back out the window and out into the purple nebula that was the home for galactic politics. He looked down on the many wards; skyscrapers reaching out into space, tiny dots flying through the spaces between them, and the dance of lights on the surface below them. The figures of the Citadel Defense Fleet centered around the Citadel and inside its arms; turian, asari, salarian and human warships alike prowling around, along with the pride of the fleet herself, the Destiny Ascension.

He watched the Citadel Tower come into view; memories conjured up from the Battle of the Citadel sprouting in his mind; his team running up its length fighting hordes of geth and krogan, Sovereign grasping the tower in its arms, unwilling to let go. The Council Chambers situated at the top, where the final battle with Saren had commenced, and where Sovereign had met its downfall. All of that had happened two years ago; yet it felt only like it happened two months ago. He also remembered the battle that had raged; the defense fleet fighting geth warships, and losing.

He shook the memories from his mind and closed his eyes, leaning into Tali, and napping until they arrived. The ride itself wasn't very long, or at least didn't feel like it; almost as soon as he closed his eyes, three-fingered hands shook him awake, the quarian informing him they had arrived. He nodded, and opened the door, getting out and waiting for Tali to follow before closing the door, paying the driver and heading into the embassies.

The Presidium hardly changed either; a beautiful, tranquil blue lake lying in the middle of two-sided unbelievably clean cyan structures that arched up and around with the ring, artificial sun beaming in the sky. Trees and bushes occupied areas where they could, and the movement of turians, asari, salarians, hanar, elcor, volus, humans and even a few krogan, was constant. The smell of fresh, delicious human and alien foods met his nostrils, yet was instantly replaced by foul memories; the smell of black smoke, burning trees and the darkness enveloping the area from a deactivated sun, explosions rocking the station and sirens blaring in the distance.

With a sigh, he continued forward, nodding to his friends as he caught up to them and moved up the stairs, heading towards the human embassy; located inbetween the elcor/volus and salarian embassies. As they moved towards it, Tali moved up to him and shook his arm, turning him to her. She crossed her arms, "What's wrong? You've been looking...distant."

He gave her a warm smile, "Its nothing, just old memories. Bad memories. Memories long forgotten. The Battle of the Citadel."

"That was two years ago," Tali reassured him vainly, "Saren is dead. Sovereign is destroyed and you rewrote the heretics, remember? They won't attack us again."

He nodded, remembering. Not too long ago, before the final battle at the collector base, Legion had informed him of a geth virus being devised by the heretics, the 'bad' geth involved with the Eden Prime War, which would rewrite the true geth and assimilate them to the heretic ideals. So they attacked the station, and rehardwired the virus to rewrite the heretics, causing them to rejoin the true geth, abandoning their worship of the Reapers to rejoin their synthetic brethen. The Heretics were indeed gone, but that wasn't what kept bugging him.

"Sovereign may be gone Tali, but its friends aren't. They're still coming," Marcus told her wearily as they reached the embassy.

"And we'll stop them. You've done well so far; besides, you've got us to help you. We're not about to abandon you now," she promised and he smiled at her, squeezing the hand she offered. They parted as they reached the door and Marcus moved up, knocking. A familiar voice beckoned them inside and they moved in, door closing behind them as Marcus smiled at the human councilor sitting at his desk across the room.

The man named David Edward Anderson stood up from behind his desk and smiled warmly at the commander, dropping his datapad and approaching him. He was a dark-skinned man who wore the same navy blue uniform of the Alliance Navy that he had worn when he originally commanded the Normandy SR-1 two years ago. And two years ago, Marcus had made sure that Anderson won the title of human councilor over Ambassador Donnel Udina, a politician that Marcus strongly disliked and found the feeling mutually returned.

Anderson showed all the posture of authority and strength that came with being an ex-Alliance Navy Captain and N7 operative; Pressly had once told him that Anderson had won so many medals that if they were melted down, you could make a life-sized statue of him. Anderson was Marcus' mentor, but by the way the man heralded him, you'd think Anderson looked up to Marcus, not the other way round.

"Shepard," Anderson greeted, still smiling before grabbing Marcus in a bear hug. Once released, the councilor backed away, "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes! I haven't heard from you since that brief meeting of yours with the Council; in other words, a _long _time. How's that war with the Collectors going? Get any idea as to their origins? Why they're abducting our colonies? Maybe you could-"

"They're gone Anderson," Marcus stood tree trunk straight, glancing proudly at the team behind him, "We stopped them."

"You what?" Anderson asked, eyes wide, "How the hell did you manage to get through the Omega 4 Relay? Their ships are powerful by themselves and they must have been huge in number."

"They were Anderson, but even that didn't save them in the long run," Marcus grinned.

"The Illusive Man, the bastard he might be," Kaidan spoke up, moving to stand beside the spectre, "Did provide us with some nice little trinkets and toys to play with. We gave one of their cruisers are little taste of our new thanix cannon, and we cut through them like butter. As for the Omega 4 Relay, we managed to steal a Reaper IFF from a dead corpse and fit it into our ship. Allowed us instant access."

Marcus nodded, "You'll find that the Collector Base is nothing but debris now; we blew it to kingdom kum. You wouldn't believe how big it was sir; it was over ninety kilometers in length."

Anderson whistled, "The Citadel suddenly feels very small," the councilor leaned against his desk, "I'm glad you wiped them out Shepard; they were a menace that needed to be stopped. But the Council has never liked the prospect of genocide."

"They seemed okay with it when it came to the krogan and rachni," Kaidan replied harshly.

"Indeed," Anderson replied in agreement, "Still; quite a feat you managed to pull; just another title to add alongside 'Hero of the Citadel.' Did you find out their origins at all? Why they were abducting humans? Their involvement with the Reapers?"

"If you don't mind Anderson, I'd like to keep that secret until we meet with the Council," Marcus requested, "I'd like to get this off my chest all at once. It'll be alot to take in. And I've got evidence they simply can't ignore this time."

"Good. As soon as you informed me of your arrival, I immediately put a request through to the Council," the councilor informed them, "They'll request a comm link soon," he turned to the team and smiled, standing straight, "I see some of your crew rejoined you. I knew about Kaidan, but Vakarian as well? And is that you Miss Zorah?"

"Indeed it is," Tali greeted, "It is good to see you again, Councilor."

"Just call me Anderson," the N7 insisted, "Where's Miss T'Soni and Wrex? I know you have Joker and Chakwas; Adams had me informed of that himself. He said to send his apologies; he was 'too busy.' And I know you guys are good, but I didn't think it possible you could take on the collectors with just them."

"I'll admit, we didn't," Marcus shrugged, "Unfortunately, Liara and Wrex couldn't join us; Liara has a personal...vendetta to resolute, and Wrex has to keep the krogan clans in check to get ready for the Reaper invasion. I recruited a much larger team; and its far more deadly than the original sir. I'd be willing to introduce you to them later, if you wanted to councilor."

"Sounds good; I'll clear my schedule."

"I might help with that."

Marcus wanted to groan, but he didn't, so he rolled his eyes instead as he turned to see the grizzled, always arrogant form of Donnel Udina standing in the doorway, arms crossed and a smug grin on his face. The man hadn't changed abit; he had grey hair and a wrinkled face, and seemed to wear the same dull white clothes he always did.

Anderson scoffed, "You helping me with something? Now that's a first."

Udina didn't look amused as he pushed past Garrus to stand infront of Anderson's desk, "As much as we dislike each other Anderson, you'll have to admit that I am the better politician. I can handle your affairs while you...inspect Shepard's ship."

Marcus decided to tug a few strings, "Hope you're not planning to ground me like you did two years ago; I don't think I'd stop with a black eye this time."

Udina sighed, "It was merely politics commander, you must understand that."

"All the more reason to hate politics; it almost got us all killed. If Anderson had suggested escape, I think we'd all be dead right about now," Marcus pointed out.

They both exchanged glares for a short amount of time before Udina broke off, "I heard there was a meeting with the Council; is this correct? I would like to accompany this meeting."

"Very well Udina," Anderson sternly replied.

Udina nodded and melted into the background, avoiding Marcus' eyes. The spectre shook his head and turned to Anderson, "I just want you to know sir, we've severed all ties with Cerberus. They were a means to an end, and we reached that end, so they had no further use for us. The Illusive Man actually wanted to keep the collector base so he could research it; never gave him the chance."

Anderson rolled his eyes, "That bastard's ideals have always been a mixed bag, but I guess he's served his uses well enough. What about the Normandy though? She's still wearing Cerberus white and gold."

"That'll change when we begin repairs. New paintjob hopefully should cover it up," Marcus reassured him, "I-"

"Anderson, the Council is calling for session," Udina informed the councilor.

Anderson nodded, standing up and straightening his uniform, "Very well; let's do this," he nodded to Marcus and they all stood infront of the three diases that occupied the side of the room, the holographic forms of asari Councilor Tevos, turian Councilor Sparatus, and salarian Councilor Valern coming into view. Even _they _didn't look any different from two years ago. _Has nothing changed?_

"Commander Shepard," Sparatus greeted with the usual disdain; he had never been a fan of Shepard, and seemed to be personally dislike him more than Udina did. The words _'Ah yes, 'Reapers', a race of sentient machines supposed waiting in dark space. We have dismissed this claim' _came to mind whenever he met the turian or heard him speak, and he hated him all the more for it, "This is surprising; I thought we had made it perfectly clear that you were to keep your operations in the Terminus Systems. We want no involvement in your fairytale endeavours."

Valern waited for Marcus' response to the turian's statement while Tevos shot Sparatus an annoyed look. Out of the three idiots, Tevos was the one Marcus liked the most. She seemed alot more willing to listen than the other two and annoyed when Sparatus scolded Shepard. Not to say that she believed him about the Reapers; she didn't, and she was still a political idiot, just the lesser out of the rest of them. The lesser evil, for lack of a better term.

Marcus showed no signs of being fazed by the turian's jab, "Operations which have now concluded councilor; the collectors have been dealt with and human colonies are now safe from any harm they pose."

The three councilors looked confused by the revelation, but Valern wasted no time in investigating; salarians loved doing that, "You say you stopped the collectors? How? The Omega 4 Relay is completey untraversable; any ships who have attempted such a journey have never returned. And what do you mean by 'stopping' the collectors? Have you delayed their operations, hindered them or completely halted them?"

"Me and my crew traversed the relay using a IFF we gleaned from a Reaper's corpse," he was basically ready for the council's eye roll, "Once through, we engaged collector naval forces, defeated them, boarded their station and destroyed it from within, taking all the collectors with it. As of now, the collectors are officially extinct, councilors and no longer pose a threat to the Systems Alliance or any other council or non-council race. I have a datapad with information pertaining-"

"You wiped out an entire species?" Tevos asked with obvious shock, "Do you realize what you've done? The genocide of an entire species-"

"Is a crime the Council is ignorantly familiar with," Marcus replied firmly, "Let us not forget how you bombed the rachni into extinction using your krogan armada and once you were done with them, you began their slow genocide as well. Do not lecture me councilors on the morals of warfare; I did what was necessary. The collectors were a threat that needed to be checked; they were the enemy."

"So is Cerberus," Sparatus blurted out, "Yet you had no quarrels with associating yourself with the Council's enemies."

"My alliance to Cerberus was merely beneficial and not long-term," the spectre fought back, "I worked _with _them, not _for _them, and once they fullfilled the purpose they served, a cut the rope holding them to me. My days with Cerberus are officially over councilors."

"We'll need confirmation of us," Valern replied.

"Contact the Illusive Man," Marcus bluntly replied, "I'm sure he'll be more than willing to explain to you how I shat on his plans to use the collector base to further terrorist advances and told him to get fucked."

Sparatus sighed, "This is a formal meeting Shepard, it would be considerate of you to keep profanity out of it. As for departure from Cerberus, we will have to confirm this, but for the long run we will reinstall your full status as spectre; see that we don't regret it. Apart from the destruction of the Collectors, is there anything else you'd like to inform us of?"

"Yes Councilor," Marcus inhaled and exhaled, getting ready for the big reveal, "I have found irreputable proof that the Reapers do indeed exist."

Tevos sighed and Valern shook his head, while Sparatus crossed his arms, "Why do you insist on pushing this nonsense of sentient starships? No matter; present these so-called findings quickly. I have many things to do, and wasting my time on mythical machines is not one of them."

"First off however," Marcus declared, holding a datapad in the air, "I have some disturbing news pertaining to the origins of the Collectors and why they were abducting humans. After boarding what appeared to be a disabled collector vessel, we discovered a collector body and ran some scans and some comparisons; what we found was truly horrifying. The Collectors are, inarguably, the last remnants of the prothean race. Servants that were twisted by the Reapers and transformed into abominations to serve their will. This datapad has all the proof needed," he then handed the datapad to Anderson, who took it and ran scans on it. He saw the look of shock on all four of the councilor's faces, Tevos none the more prudent.

A couple minutes later, Anderson returned, handing the datapad back, "I've just run a comparison between sampled prothean DNA and the collector DNA provided. They are indeed an exact match."

"By the goddess..." Tevos exclaimed.

Valern seemed contemplative while Sparatus leaned forward, outraged, "So not only did you commit genocide against the collectors, but you wiped out the last surviving members of the protheans! The ones who built the Citadel and the mass relays; and you decided to wipe them out!"

Marcus fumed, "You'll remember what I told you; they weren't protheans any longer. The Reapers had indoctrinated and transformed them many centuries ago; they were nothing but mindless husks and servants when we destroyed them; what me and my team did to them as a mercy." _The Protheans didn't build the Citadel or the mass relays either, the Reapers did, but I don't really think bringing that up will help my case._

"Indeed it was commander," Tevos replied, recovering from her shock and waving for the meeting to continue.

Anderson spoke next, "Word cannot reach the public about this just yet. If the hanar were to find out..."

_Shit. Didn't think about that. Good thing they don't have a Council position then. _The hanar were highly religious, in terms of government and culture, and were known for their reverement of the protheans as gods. If they found out a human was involved in the 'defilement' of their gods, there would most likely be war. The hanar would most likely lose said war, as the Alliance had a greater military strength overall and a far larger fleet, but it would be war nonetheless. Not one the galaxy needed if they wanted to be ready for the Reapers.

"This news is very troubling," Valern dictated, "I will contact Dalatrass Linron on Sur'Kesh and send her the data so the STG can review it. As for the abduction of human colonies; did you find out why they were doing it? How they were doing it? All Alliance reports state there were never any signs of battle."

"The Collectors did so by jamming communications first," Marcus explained, "Once in orbit, their superdreadnought, or cruiser as they dub it, would deploy a massive of mechanical insects called 'seekers' in a massive swarm to paralyze the colonists; they would sting them and inject a paralyzing agent that froze their limbs. They would then land, collect the colonists, and be gone. A quick and simple process, one we first witnessed and hindered on Horizon."

"But why?" Valern asked.

"This is where the Reapers come in," Marcus declared, exhaling, "Not long before the battle, the collectors attacked my ship and abducted the crew. Not long after, we commenced our assault, infiltrated the base, and looked for our crew. When we found them, we found the Horizon colonists as well, but we were too late to save them. The collectors...they...melted them down into red goo before pumping it through tubes into the control station...while they were still alive..." he trailed off to let that sink in.

Tevos looked repulsed and he noticed, out of the corner of his vision, Udina looked horrified. Anderson tried to keep his expression passive while mumbling 'god have mercy', Valern looked just as contemplative as ever and Sparatus looked about to puke. Nonetheless, he continued, "When we finally confronted the destination, we were horrified to discover that the collectors were using human body matter to build a gigantic Human-based Reaper ship. Our scientist, Doctor Mordin Solus, believed we were witnessing Reaper reproduction, so to speak. Every cycle, they would pick a species to base their next Reaper off of, and then abduct enough of that species to build a new Reaper. According to the specs, the amount of humans needed would have numbered way into the hundreds of millions..."

"How can you be certain it was 'Reaper' in design?" Sparatus asked skeptically.

"Because the design was definitely not collector," Kaidan replied, "I was there, same as Tali and Shepard. Collector design is organic fused with metal, and very insectoid. This thing...it was made of grey steel, and red eyes like that of a demon and showed no signs of any known species architecture. Everything about it reminded me of Sovereign..."

"...the geth superdreadnought," Sparatus finished, "So the geth are in colloboration with the Collectors, simple as that. The geth most likely finished Saren's job and decided to rebuild Sovereign, but instead chose humans for a template, most likely out of retaliation for the Battle of the Citadel or in revenge for the destruction of their warship. This nonsense about Reapers is beginning to grow boring."

"This tale is entirely logical given contradictory evidence provided to argue point," said the synthetic voice that would change everything.

All eyes turned to the disguised machine in the back and Sparatus scoffed, "A mech with a voice? What's this Shepard? Another one of your stories?"

"This, Councilor, is proof from a primary source," Marcus responded, causing everyone _not _on the Normandy in the room to frown at him as he turned to the hidden geth, "Come forward, Legion."

The geth did as ordered and stood beside Marcus. With a sigh and an inhale of breath, the spectre reached over, grabbed the top of the hoodie and pulled it off, letting it drop to the floor as the geth was fully revealed. Anderson widened his eyes as he equipped his pistol and Udina leapt for cover. The councilors looked affronted and Valern looked about ready to comm for C-Sec. Sparatus looked infuriated, "What is the meaning of this! You've brought a geth onto the Citadel! You've lost your mind! We'll have you-"

"Why don't you let it speak first," Marcus requested, turning back to the councilors, "This geth is not your ordinary geth. Before Legion speaks, I'm going to let you in on a little revelation I discovered a little while ago. The geth involved in the Eden Prime War were a different faction of geth; the ones the True Geth, the other faction, call the 'Heretics.' To put it simply, the heretics are the 'bad' geth. The True Geth are the 'good' geth and don't wish organics harm. Legion is true geth. This proves that not all geth are evil machines wanting to kill us all. Legion helped me destroy the collectors and while I don't fully trust it just yet, I still believe it an ally."

Anderson seemed to relax, "Two factions of geth? That's alot of revelations to take in. So the heretics are the only faction we have to worry about now?"

"Well, not so much anymore, as they no longer exist. That faction has ceased to be," Marcus told them, "We raided their base of operations in the Sea of Storms system and rewrote them, making them rejoin the True Geth. The heretics won't be a problem for the galaxy anymore."

"How can we trust it?" Tevos asked, doubtfully, "For all we know, it could have made up that story to infiltrate the Citadel..."

"Geth do not infiltrate."

Tali nodded, "Besides, my people built the geth, we know them best. And as much as they have evolved, current studies show that they are still incapable of lying. We built them that way. They simply can't tell anything but truth."

"Very well," Sparatus nodded, "So what 'truth' does this geth have for us?"

Marcus nodded to Legion and the geth spoke, "You organics have placed yourselves under the common misconception that Nazara, the ones you call 'Sovereign', was of geth design. All records indicate this to be a false assumption. All records of geth manufacturing indicate that no such construction was ever made. Scans also indicate that Sovereign is beyond current geth technological status and design and is concensusized to be millions of years younger than even the asari species."

Valern hummed, "If Sovereign was not of geth design, then what was it?"

"This answer has been provided many times. It has been met by the same illogical conclusion," Legion replied, "Nazara is a member of a series of runtimes known as the Old Machines, or as you have called them, the Reapers. They are billions of years old, and predate even the earliest of current organic civilizations. They existed before the protheans, and long before whoever came before them. The Citadel and Mass Relays show signs of their technology in use, and therefore can be concluded that they are of Old Machine manufacture. The geth have concluded that the fifty thousand year old extinction cycle waiting period had concluded ten years ago, but two years ago was delayed by Shepard-Commander's actions on the Citadel. However, this has not halted the Old Machine advance. It is also confirmed that the Human Old Machine design is representative of Old Machine reproduction, and that Nazara's design was based off that of an organic species called the 'Thoi'han'."

"I thought the story was that the geth worshipped the Reapers," Anderson asked confusingly.

"The geth make our own future. Nazara offered to provide that future. The heretics accepted this offer and took to revering them as deities," Legion explained, "The true geth are machines. We have no need for religious subpractices. They are an illogical displacement of devotion and faith, qualities which geth have not quite grasped yet."

Sparatus sighed heavily while Valern shook his head. Tevos looked at Marcus and examined his features before she too shook her head, "This is alot to take in commander; this Council will need to think on this. We cannot act blindly; our actions are major and guided, and if were to inform the public that galactic doom was looming over them..."

"But the geth has already made it clear that the Reaper threat is no longer something to worry about," Sparatus spoke up, looking down at Legion before glancing at Marcus, "You stopped them from coming two years ago; the Citadel was their access point, and you have cut it off, the Keepers are no longer under their control or influence. Wherever they are in dark space, they are trapped."

"You think that'll stop them?" Marcus asked, chuckling. The Council looked at him with confusion before he narrowed his eyes at them, "Nothing stops them; Sovereign was right about one thing: they are beyond our comprehension. Their technology, their logic, their intelligence...it is nothing like we've ever seen. Sovereign carved through the Citadel fleet and Alliance Fifth Fleet like carving through a cake. Just imagine thousands of ships just like it coming for all of us, coming to destroy us all. They have no pity, no remorse, no mercy. They have a millenia of patience, feel no fear and are, conventionally, invincible. It doesn't matter what hell you believe in; they are demons _from _that hell coming to get you. They will not stop until this galaxy is empty of all organic life. So tell me, do you think alittle bit of travel through _dark space _will stop them from carrying out their cycle of genocide? I spoke to their leader; the one they call Harbinger, and he is coming. And if we're not ready, we're all fucked."

He looked at all three of them, "Think long and hard councilors; think long and hard about your tactics, strategies and how many dreadnoughts you're going to build. The time for discussion is over; the Reapers are coming, and we fight, or we die. _That's _the plan."

All three councilors nodded and their holograms disappeared, ending the meeting. Marcus nodded for Legion to put the hoodie back on while he approached Anderson's desk, the councilor holstering his pistol while Udina stood behind him, eying Legion with distrust. Anderson took a seat at his desk while Marcus followed suit on the other side, sighing.

Anderson shook his head, "I hope they listen; I may be a councilor, but I'm just one among three."

"They have to listen or its the death of us all," Marcus told him, "And if they won't, I'll appeal directly to their leadership; the asari leaders, the turian primarch, the salarian dalatra. The quarian conclave, the hanar monarchs...hell, even Aria T'Loak. I'll go all out if I have to. The Reapers will be here soon."

"You know don't you?" Anderson asked, "Just how soon can we expect?"

"A couple of years at least," Marcus declared, leaning forward and wiping his face with his hands, "A decade if we're lucky."

"Christ," the councilor exclaimed, "Looks like we've got our hands full then. I'll get a session running with the Alliance Admiralty, see if we can then take this straight to the Arcturus Parliament. Hell, Udina's friends with all of the parliament, maybe he can help."

"I will try my best," Udina assured them and for once, Marcus found himself liking the guy. He was finally putting that 'politician' title to good use. _Maybe I did make a mistake not making him councilor; Anderson's a good man, but he's a better navy officer than he is politician. Udina's a natural at it. Oh well, no turning back now._

He looked at Anderson, "If you do, I want in. I need to discuss certain plans with them, especially Garrong."

"What kind of plans?" Anderson asked.

"Cerberus plans," he told him with a smirk, "Working with the bastards had its advantages. I know the location of one of their drydocks, and once we have that, we might be able to check Cerberus on every front. Even the Shadow Broker might be able to help. I also have a friend who could help too. My plan is to make the Illusive Man desperate enough to finally sucede to my leadership, giving us full access to Cerberus and its resources to use against the Reapers."

"Working with terrorists won't be easy," Udina stated.

"But its necessary. All past prejudices are rendered moot where the Reapers are concerned. While they exist, we are all friends, allies and comrades."

"And, as much as I hate to admit it, my relationship with Tali'Zorah will help in the long run getting the quarians to join forces with us. On a political spectrum, I'm on good terms with most of the admiralty board save one, which means it'll be easier to convince the conclave."

"What use are a fleet of vagrants and thieves?" Udina asked with disgust.

Marcus shot him a glare and he heard Tali bristle behind him, "Think of it this way Udina; its not just a fleet, its a fleet of fifty thousand fully capable warships. There is the problem of civilians and the non-combatants, but if we can find them a world to colonize, we can have all fifty thousand of their ships combat ready and capable. And with the geth willing to fight, that's just an added bonus."

"It will be no walk in the park getting those two to fight together," Anderson exclaimed, "Reapers are no, quarian and geth prejudice runs deep, we all know that. The quarians won't just drop everything to fight alongside the machines that killed billions of their people and took away their homeworld from them."

"And if they had that homeworld back?" Marcus grinned, looking at Tali, "I think the quarians would be more enticed to the idea if the geth decided to give Rannoch back, not to mention the entire Perseus Veil. When I said 'a world to colonize', I wasn't talking about some shithole planet noone wants. I'm talking about the only one that matters."

Anderson raised an eyebrow, "That doesn't sound easy. A matter of fact, it seems downright impossible."

Marcus heard a chuckle from behind him and Garrus spoke.

"Him being able to _sit there_ and _speak to you _about such an impossible idea just shows how much the word 'impossible' means to him."

**{Loading...}**

_October 12, 2185_

_1359 hours._

_'Humanity's Sanctum,' Upper Level, Cronos Station, Anadius System._

_The Illusive Man, First Lieutenant Geoff Dielheart._

"Sir, we've made contact with one of the Shadow Broker's agents," Geoff announced from behind him, omni-tool out and displayed infront of him, "She says she'd contact the Shadow Broker and let her know whether they want to play ball."

TIM nodded, taking a wiff of his cigar before letting it fall casually into the ash tray, "Excellent. It shouldn't take long; the Broker is a very efficient person and its network is quite widespread and rapid. Now we simply sit and wait."

"Wait sir? As in...just stand here?"

"Precisely."

They waited for a couple of minutes. All the while, Geoff just stood there, looking out at the bright light that was Anadius while TIM patiently and silently waited. After a few more minutes of waiting, the Illusive Man's console beeped loudly and he reached forward, hitting the console and bringing it to bear before him. Displayed on the terminal were the words 'incoming message from unknown source'. With a nod, TIM placed the cigar in his mouth and hit connect.

The terminal disappeared, only to pop back up, with the words 'call connected.' A monotone, deep voice, almost like that of a machine, rang through the close to empty room, the sound of it being clearly male, but not of any known species. It sounded machine like, yet hidden under the tone was organic voice cords. Then it hit him. _Voice mask code; very intelligent. Mask your voice by making it sound completely different from your normal voice, making identification of it impossible. _

"Illusive Man," the Shadow Broker boomed, "I don't believe I've had the pleasure."

"The feeling is mutual," TIM replied, "Our networks and agents have collided in the past, but I don't believe either of us have spoken to each other. Of course, we both know face to face contact is too risky to our identities to attempt, so that's not an option. It is an honor to be speaking to the Shadow Broker himself; few have the honor."

"And those few are usually dead by the next day," the Broker replied coldly, "Although, I am wondering, why you would contact me; I haven't known Cerberus to seek out my services. I would like to chat, but this I would know before I leave. I have much work to do, an army of agents to organize and a business to run. Make it quick, Jack Harper."

TIM smiled inwardly and took a sip of his whiskey, "My proposition is quite simple, Shadow Broker. We both have a potential enemy; you might seek to destroy him, I seek to rein him in as an asset. Lets not play stupid by pretending you don't know who I am."

"I am aware of who you speak of," the broker replied, cold as ever.

"A partnership would seem beneficial in any case," TIM proposed, "We both have vast networks and we could both help each other. You need Liara T'Soni eliminated, and I've got the perfect agent to do that. I need Shepard reined in, and you could help with that. Of course, this partnership would be purely temporary, but it would be helpful to the both of us in the long run."

"Why then," the Broker replied, "Why do you need my help? You have the resources to do this yourself."

"I don't have your contacts, agents or sources," TIM bluntly put it, "I may have troops and ships, but my network is inferior compared to yours. We can easily compliment each other; an alliance between us would be extremely beneficial to both sides. And if you've been listening in on galactic events, then you know what's coming."

"The Reapers," the broker replied, "Do not worry, I am not like those political fools. For two years I have been looking up whatever I can on them. I think we're in agreement when you say that an alliance would be...agreeable, for the both of us."

TIM nodded, humming and taking another whiff of his cigarette, "So you agree that joining forces is necessary."

"Completely," the broker dictated, "As for T'Soni, I will deal with her. I have one of my best agents on Illium right now and standby. When I give the order, she'll pounce and kill Liara like she was nothing. She maybe a Hero of the Citadel, but she's nothing without Shepard."

"If I were you Broker, I would fear T'Soni," TIM bluntly declared, "You may be numerous and powerful, but so is she, and she is one of Shepard's crew, which just makes her all the more dangerous. If she were to learn too much...she might just bring you down."

"That won't happen, not with my agent close by. Just stick to your part of the bargain."

"Which is?"

"Provide my troops with backup when needed and give me a fleet to deposit."

"You shall have it. Cerberus and the Shadow Broker will blossom from this partnership," TIM assured him, "Now if you don't mind, I must find out what my agents have on Shepard. I will report anything substantial to you when I can."

A grunt was heard before the call disconnected. TIM frowned and for a bit simply stood there, looking at Anadius. After a bit however, he turned to Geoff, "This partnership is merely temporary; after that, I'll have no need of him. The Shadow Broker is a powerful ally and a dangerous enemy; I don't want him hindering our efforts. We'll work with him until he feels safe enough to reveal his location and after that, we'll strike hard and fast and remove him. Then, I will insert myself as the new Shadow Broker and Cerberus will expand."

"You plan to betray him, sir?"

"When the time is right, yes," TIM declared, "Although I prefer to call it a...reallocation of valuable resources, rather than treachery. That word is simply too harsh for something like this. The Shadow Broker has betrayed many of his own agents in the past and even some of his own clients, so I'd say its well-deserved karma. However, keep this between us. The Broker has eyes everywhere, and there's no reason not to believe that he has eyes in my organization as well."

"Yes sir."

"You are dismissed. And have Decumbry send me an update on Project Eva."

Geoff bowed and left, the man wondering if he should see how Carter's lessons were going. Ever since joining Cerberus, Geoff's son had been attending daily lessons from Cerberus employed teachers inplace of normal schooling. Carter would one day be a member of Cerberus just like his father was, and hopefully be better.

TIM looked out into space, and for once ignored the radiance that was Anadius. He sighed, putting out his cigarette by squeezing it on the ash tray.

_I have the Shadow Broker on a leash, he just doesn't realize it. Now lets see if I can get a second chain for Shepard. And who knows, maybe I won't need a strong leash. Maybe the Broker's bite will be enough to put him into submission._

**"The beginning of a new awareness."**

**- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.**

**"Or, so we hoped."**

**- Marcus Shepard.**

_**A/N:**_

_**Yes, this chapter was mostly politically based. I just wanted you guys to know that the Council aren't complete fuckwits like they're made out to be in ME3. And honestly, Shepard has a geth and evidence of a Human-Reaper, and he never provides? I'm sorry, I call bullshit!**_

_**Sorry for the long wait too!**_


	4. Chapter 3 The Ark

**REQUIEM**

**CHAPTER THREE:**

**THE ARK**

_August 10, 2251_

_1726 hours._

_Cockpit, Paradise-Class Interceptor, Inbound for Hoc Relay, Leaving Orbit over Virmire._

_Terra-Rannochian War_

_Staff Sergeant Reby'Reegar pav Rannoch, Lance Corporal Thane'Shepard pav Rannoch._

Another ship-to-ship missile locked onto the small human interceptor and launched from the promethean corvette, spiralling towards them. Luckily, Reby had caught up on her pilot training and initiated a sharp dive, followed by a roll, causing the missile to lose track of its target and fly aimlessly into space, detonating soon after.

Thane's back thumped against the chair as Reby acellerated forward, hoping to get within point-blank range of the corvette so they could retaliate. Reby locked on and managed to disperse a cruise missile at the corvette's hull before having to spin out of range of another rocket. The high-yield cruise missile impacted the corvette's shields and detonated, an azure field sparking to life to protect the vessel from any damage, but immediately exploded, overwhelmed by the power of the missile.

Interceptors were not like standard fighters or bombers; they were designed to harass destroyers and cruisers, including crippling them. Bombers were meant to take on battleships, carriers and dreadnoughts, while fighters were mostly escort. This corvette was heavily outdated and unable to take on a interceptor such as theirs successfully.

But why was a promethean vessel attacking them anyway? They were allies!

The interceptor shook and for a moment, Thane's heart stopped. He looked around the cockpit frantically, but immediately calmed when he saw the forward console and looked at the battle status; the shields had taken the brunt of the assault and the corvette had simply spun its AA guns to bare on their ship; a burst catching them in the side, but doing little damage.

"Thane!" Reby called out as she initiated another roll, "Think you can hack that corvette's defenses? Disable its AA guns?"

"Definitely," Thane replied, opening his omni-tool and beginning the task of locking onto the corvette's IFF signature and beginning to hack. His mother, Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch, was one of the most intelligent and dangerous engineers in the galaxy, and she had taught him and his other brothers and sisters all she had to know about engineering. Thane definitely wasn't his mother, but he was close enough.

Hacking the corvette's defenses was easy; the ship's VI was pretty basic and was unable to detect his entry till it was too late. He uploaded junk data into its core, confusing it while he bega to simultaneously hack the AA guns. Hacking into the weapons array was even easier, and with a tap of a finger, he watched the AA guns go from green and enabled, to red and offline within seconds of each other. And for better measure, he put the VI out of commission for good by uploading a virus into its core; one designed to kill a geth on impact.

The corvette didn't stand a chance now; shields overwhelmed, VI dead and AA guns cripped, they had the upper hand. Thane looked out a viewing port and finally got a good look of the promethean corvette. Like most promethean vessels, it wasn't promethean manufactured, but either built by the Coalition, Republic or Confederacy and would then be repainted and renamed, and a new insignia stamped on its hull.

The promethean insignia was easy enough to spot, along with the black and white exterior of the small vessel's exterior. The corvette was obviously an ex-Coalition scout ship, and it showed. The ship's design was that of a Earth shark; small wings at the front of the vessel were the fins, the arched and bent bow was that of a great white shark's head and the extended elongated rear of the ship was the tail, with engines pulsing red under the back. The design was rugged and imperial; like most human architecture. From what he remembered, it was an Oceanic-Class Corvette, and its name was plastered on the side in big black letters.

_CSV Iwojima, C-999. _The ship had to be 100 feet in length, at least.

Missile bay doors shot open and more missiles shot out, but Reby had already flown over to avoid them and opened fire with the interceptor's chin-mounted rippers, a term given to the chain guns because of how powerful they were, directing a major score on the ship's conning tower, a small structure in the middle where the bridge was. As they flew past, Thane watched in horror was the areas where the rippers tore open the hull began to fall victim to decompression, and many of the ship's personnel were dragged into space, most likely including the captain.

With no command crew, the corvette was leaderless and defenseless. Reby brought the interceptor around and began to head straight for the corvette. As she did, she twisted in her seat to face Thane, "We're going to board that ship and find out why they attacked us and commandeer it if we can; you got your rifle?"

Thane nodded, pulling out his alligator heavy rifle and acolyte heavy pistol. Reby nodded, aligning the interceptor with the airlock on the enemy corvette; now that Thane got a closer look, this ship really was tiny. Even the Normandy SR-2 was bigger; this had to be at least half the size. _Corvettes have always been smaller than frigate; and lesser armed. Any Normandy-Class frigate would have torn through this ship like an annoying pest._

Thane heard the click of two airlocks connecting and immediately unstrapped himself, taking his rifle, and already holstered pistol, and opening the back door and running out into the cargo bay of the interceptor, before running to the airlock. He raised his rifle crouched next to it, and Reby wasn't far behind, holding her shotgun.

Checking that her shotgun was loaded, she looked down at Thane and smiled weakly, "This should be easy. I never liked Prometheus, and I had my suspicions they were dirty, but to outwardly attack a coalition-marked interceptor over a major trading zone owned by the Dominion and regularly patrolled? That's just stupid."

Thane shrugged, "I-I guess we won't know until we board the ship and find out."

Reby nodded and waited for Thane to open the seals on the enemy ship's airlock. Once opened and checked, Reby opened theirs and quickly traversed into the corvette's decontamination unit. Thane hacked through that easily enough as well and soon they found themselves in an empty corridor, running the length of the vessel.

The interceptor hadn't done much damage to the ship itself; so power was fully operational. The corridor felt claustrophobic and the walls seemed to compress on each other in an uncomfortable way. Lights aligned the ceiling and the sides, and the entrance to the captain's quarters was located to the left. One crew member stood frozen in the middle of the corridor; a human with a promethean uniform and unarmed. They raised their weapons.

"Don't shoot!" The human begged, dropping his datapad onto the floor and falling to the ground on his knees, hands behind his head, "I surrender!"

Reby approached him, weapon raised and gaze untrusting, "What's the total crew compliment of this ship? Including armed personnel and any passengers you have."

"One navigation officer, one armoury officer, one marine sergeant, a single promethean squad, light infantry. One communications officer, single commanding officer, one tactical officer. Rest are non-essential personnel; mostly engineering."

"Give me a number," Reby growled.

"Including all of them? Forty-four."

"Well, that's one down, forty-three to go," Reby announced, moving back and ramming the butt of her rifle into the back of the man's head and knocking him out. They both stood still, hoping noone heard, but the only sound to greet them was the humming of the ship's engines. Satisfied noone could hear them, she turned to Thane, "You go to the cockpit and eliminate any surviving senior personnel, but keep the pilot alive if you can. I'm going to deal with whatever armed units they have and then take care of engineering."

"You want us to split up?" Thane asked stupidly.

Reby rolled her eyes, "Its a skeleton crew Thane; hardly a threat. Besides, your the son of Tali'Shepard and The Shepard himself, so I can think you can handle a crew of promethean misfits. Meet you on the bridge," With that, Reby ran up ahead and down the corridor, hitting a door at the end and continuing past it. Thane simply shook his head, unbelieving of the situation the two quarians found themselves in. _One quarian and a half. Keelah, how did we end up here? One relay jump and we'd be back at Earth...but nope, Prometheus sees fit to attack us for no reason. _

He heard gunshots, most likely Reby encountering hostiles and opening fire.

Thane sighed as he lifted his weapon, which suddenly felt heavier than before, and continued to follow Reby's path and moved through the door she had opened.

Before him lay a CIC similiar to the one on the Normandy; noticably smaller however. It was only ten meters across, and didn't feature a galaxy map with command ramp at the back; instead, it had multiple consoles aligning the walls, with a galaxy map painted on a flatscreen on the roof. The CIC crew were all dead, all will pistols laying next to him. They had obviously gotten some shots off; holes littered the walls, along with one spent thermal clip cooling on the floor, blood pooling around their bodies. They were mostly humans and quarians, but one looked like a drell. _Guess peace talks went well with them._

An elevator lay at the back, along with two corridors stretching behind it, and by the signs on the walls, those corridors lead to engineering. He looked at the elevator and immediately entered it, hitting the button for the top deck, which was the main deck out of 3 decks in total, making the ship round about the same size as the Normandy SR-1. The door closed and the box began its descent; thankfully, it was faster than other elevators.

He readied his weapon for combat and primed a smoke grenade. He expected resistance, but nothing substantial and overwhelming; just a few crew members with sidearms. If the captain was alive, he'd be the first priority for elimination, but apart from that, everything would be fine; hopefully. He hoped Reby knew what she was doing.

The Iwojima's elevator ascended the conning tower until it finally reached the cockpit at the tip and the door slid open to omit him entrance. He was greeted by the sight of a close to empty room; the cockpit was only slightly bigger than the Normandy's, but mostly looked the same as well, just without the flight deck behind it, and fully-manned.

Noone seemed to notice him, so he listened to the quarian captain shouting orders, "Get me a full damage report! And why won't that damn VI respond!"

The tactical officer, clearly a geth, responded, "Attempts to communicate with the VI have been unsuccessful due to a overwhelming flood of junk data on its main core. I am working with Hotel Bravo to remedy the situation."

"Uyal'fi!" the captain exclaimed, falling into his chair and slamming a console on it, "All CIC officers, I want a damage report now; and find out what the hell is going on with engineering!" Without waiting for a response, which Thane silently thanked the ancestors for, he turned back around and cursed again, "One simple mission; Find Reby'Reegar and Thane'Shepard, eliminate them, command does the rest.' How fucking hard was it! But noooo...they forget to mention that they're in a far superior vessel! A corvette fighting an interceptor! I should have stayed in cloak. Does the _cloak _even function anymore?"

"It does sir," the navigation officer replied.

"Good! Fat lot of good it'll do us now! Has the Virmire Orbital Patrol been alerted to our presence? A promethean vessel on their property will surely piss off the brass."

"A destroyer by the name of CSV Solemn Reconciliation, Penance-Class, responded to reports of a naval engagement, and has notified two patrol vessels on our side of the planet, CSV Khan and CSV Raan, but they have not made a move yet. They appear to be waiting for reinforcements."

"Have they identified us though?"

"Impossible to tell; but if they've only notified two patrol vessels, then they must know our class at least, but not the organization."

"And the interceptor?"

"Docked sir."

"Good, I-wait, _**what!? **_Why, in ancestors name, wasn't I informed of this!?"

"You didn't ask."

"You incompetent machine!" The captain stood up angered and shouting down the geth, "They're most likely unboard, and if you have any more wits about you, you'll remember the son of the Avatar of Rannoch was onboard and most likely coming for us. You know what to do!"

Seeing that he had heard enough, he raised his rifle, aimed at the back of the captain's head, and fired. The shot tore through the back of the quarian's skull and erupted out the other side, the sheer power of the rifle ripping his head half of his head, red gore coating the cockpit floor as he crumbled down dead. The crew reacted immediately.

The tactical officer charged forward, attempting to use its strength to kill Thane. He side-stepped the charging geth but left his foot out, causing the geth to trip over. The geth may have achieved sentience, but that also meant they could make organic mistakes, this being one of them. With the geth on the ground, he emptied a round into the back of its optics, before facing the rest of the crew.

He only just noticed that the ruptures made by the interceptor's chain gun were now sealed up by mass effect fields; lucky that, eh? The rest of the crew made no motions to attack and simply surrendered, falling to the ground. Thane was tempted to execute them, but then he remembered his mother's words.

_Your father and I never executed with prejudice; we gave the benefit of the doubt. If they surrender, don't shoot them, because that's murder in cold-blood. We...he, wouldn't have wanted you to be that kind of person, and neither would I. I'm not telling you how to fight Thane; just try not to become a murderer. You're better than that._

The memories faded; his mother sitting on the couch, a young thirteen-year-old Thane sitting next to her, while she told him. Sometimes she'd tell him stories about her father, his life and her life, and, occassionally, would open up and talk about the Post-Apocalyptic War, also known as the 'Post-War Apocalypse' or, by humans, as the 'Second Great Depression.' He remembered those memories fondly.

He lowered his weapon and motioned them into a corner next to the elevator so he could keep an eye on both. With that done, he commed the private comm link and attempted to get ahold of Reby, "I've secured the cockpit Reby; what about you?"

Her reply was instant, "The security detail gave up without much of a fight; nabbed four of them before they pissed themselves in fear, or whatever it is I'm looking at. Engineering was trashed when I got there though; and they already surrendered, but one of them seemed to be giving me this knowing grin; its got me alittle bit worried."

_You know what to do! _Were the quarian captain's last words.

He began to become concerned as well, "What do you want to do?"

"Well, if this chief engineer is grinning like an idiot after being captured, then I'd have to bet they have a continegency plan going on. And you know how they all go; self-destruct or bombs or a secret stash of deus ex machina soldiers or something like that. I'd say we double back to the interceptor; I'm going to-"

The console behind him began to beep, but he didn't turn to it. "What's that sound Thane?" Reby demanded, voice laced with concern and authority at the same time.

"I'll ask," he assured her, before turning to his prisoners, "What's that sound? What's it doing?"

A human spoke up, japanese by the looks of it, "Cleanup crew, that's who."

"Cleanup crew...?" Thane repeated, confused. He angrily thrusted his weapon forward, face contorted in anger at the man's crypticality, "What the hell do you mean by that!?"

"Continegency orders. We call it the 'No-Evidence Protocol.' If a Promethean vessel becomes compromised, we simply self-destruct. But of course, a corvette doesn't need that, as they are usually used as escorts. So, in this case, we have some buddies coming to do it for us."

Thane's eyes widened in fear as he finally did turn around and looked at the console. The readings made him gulp and stand as frozen as an iceberg. His heart stopped and every nerve in his body seemed to just go numb. His throat went so dry, he couldn't even scream for Reby to _run._

_Incoming FTL signature; Archangel-Class Battleship, CSV Marcus Shepard._

He turned just in time to see the massive bulk of a multi-culture designed battleship to come into view. The Archangel Class, as they like to call it, was a line of warship built solely for the purpose of christianing heroes long lost and to help form the building blocks for the future Galactic Coalition, following the climax of the Reaper War. Only eight of the line were ever built; and they all assimiliated multiple design aspects; it was designed by the krogan, turians, quarians, humans, asari and geth, but never saw service until the Post-Apocalyptic War.

And they were named after the great heroes of the Reaper War; Marcus Shepard, Tali'Shepard, Garrus Vakarian, Kasumi Goto, Urdnot Wrex, David Anderson, Liara T'Soni, Kaidan Alenko. The T'Soni was lost during the Second Occupation of Palaven in the war, destroyed by a turian dreadnought and the Goto suffered an engine malfunction and all life onboard was killed by radiation leaks and the ship quickly went adrift, eventually falling into the atmosphere of Valar. The other six were still in Dominion service today, one of them even managing the Maginot Line.

And now one of them, ironically named after his father, loomed over the disabled corvette, ready to rain death on the puny warship.

It was massive; slightly bigger than a carrier, and smaller than a dreadnought. The overall design of it was misshappen; it resembled the predatory body of turian warships, the thick armour plating resembling krogan brutality, the sleek hull of geth, the wings of obsolete Ascension-Class asari dreadnoughts, human ideology of 'might over speed' and, of course, quarian resourcefulness.

It was a monster; just from looking at the bow of the vessel, he could see the weaponry of the beast begin to unravel; numerous turrets and GARDIAN lasers, the underbelly of a undeployed Earthsplitter, two thanix cannons, a line of 310mm ship-to-ship heavy main guns, eighty-eight on each broadside and an unaccountable amount of missile pods. If this was the armament of a battleship...

Then came the red and yellow of the Systems Coalition, finally followed by the black and bold letters 'Marcus Shepard' inscribed on the hull. Seeing those two words, about to destroy the ship he was on, was all that was needed to send Thane into full panic.

But it was too late; he didn't hear it, but he saw it; the flash of green as the battleship's starboard thanix cannon locked on and fired. Then he felt it; a wave of heat piercing the ship as Thane was thrown to the ground in a haze of black as the cannon made short work of utterly gutting the ship. A second shot finished its carnage and the battleship was gone as fast as it arrived.

But Thane didn't even know; and as he fell unconscious, all he could think of was Reby.

They would die on this ship; this forgettable ship, in orbit of Virmire.

**{Loading...}**

_August 10, 2251_

_1721 hours._

_Lower Bar, Purgatory, Presidium, The Citadel._

_Terra-Rannochian War._

_Spectre Jessica Alenko, Ambassador Veetor'Nara pav Rome._

"I hope you can fire a gun!"

Jessica didn't wait for a response and immediately popped out from cover, firing rapidly at her enemy; she mostly used it as an excuse to get a better look at her enemy. Aside from the HMG wielding krogan on the catwalk, the numerous agents charging their position were two humans, three quarians and five geth. _Damn it, never easy is it? _She aimed her shots at the nearest human's leg, a bullet blasting into his kneecap and causing him to scream in pain as he doubled over and fell flat on the ground.

She moved back into cover and immediately checked the weapon's core; it wasn't overheated, but it was close to doing so, and it didn't have much plasma left in the battery. She cursed as she turned to Veetor, who just crouched there, not knowing what to do and staring aimlessly at her.

"Hello, Citadel to Veetor," Jessica clicked her fingers infront of his face to gain his attention, "You gonna speak to me or what? Do you know any exits?"

Veetor shook his head rapidly, "Of course not; its not like I know this place inside and out!"

"You took me into a bar, with agents not far behind, and didn't even _map it out!?_" Jessica exclaimed, wincing as a bullet pinged off the bar and ricocheted, hitting the ceiling above them. By this point, the pulse pounding music had ceased and the screams of innocent bystanders had faded away to nothing; C-Sec would most likely be on the scene soon; unless they had been paid off by Prometheus.

"I thought they'd be smarter than that!" Veetor retorted, "Its bloody Prometheus; they know subtlely more than you think you know yourself. This isn't like them! They shouldn't have attacked us!"

_Guess he's got a point. But its always better to plan for the worst and then expect the best. _With a sigh, she turned back around, pistol in hand. The one human she shot in the kneecap was still on the ground, cradling the mangled flesh that was formally his knee while flailing about in a pool of his own blood, whimpering. One of the geth quickly put an end to that and stomped down on his face with a foot, crushing it like a kid does a can of soda. The man's head exploded, painting the floor with his brains. She could hear Veetor trying not to gag behind her, but held up a hand for him to shut up.

She looked back out and looked at the geth. It was black and white and had the Prometheus insignia painted on its chest. Red optics stared back at her, the juggernaut unit wielding a geth plasma shotgun and looking directly at her. She gasped and turned back to Veetor, knowing they couldn't hold this location anymore.

So in an absolutely insane maneveur, she used her biotics to thrust forward and slam into the juggernaut, causing it to stumble. Taking advantage of the situation, she immediately spun around and launched a warp field, point blank, into the juggernaut's side, sending it flying over the railing and down onto the dance floor below.

She initiated a combat roll to avoid a flurry of assault rifle fire from the other agents and launched herself towards the dead promethean's rifle. She scooped it up in her palm, but winced as a shot pierced her side, causing pain to shoot through her body. Ignoring it, she formed a biotic barrier around her to deflect further shots and immediately turned, pulse rifle in her hands and aimed at the nearest quarian. She pulled the trigger.

Veetor watched as Jessica engaged the promethean forces, while simultaneously trying to figure out what to do. _Ancestors show me what to do..._He pleaded, hoping to whatever deities existed as well that Elan was watching over him and sending help. He hoped.

Jessica bellowed a war cry as she slammed her knee into the midsection of another quarian she had charged, winding her until she could repeat the action, this time in the soldier's face. The quarian reeled back, ignoring her broken nose in favor and retaliating with biotics. Jessica dived to the side, narrowly avoiding a shockwave, before sending her own under the quarian's feet. Ripped from her feet, the quarian slammed into a wall, and slid back to the ground; she hit the wall on the wrong side, and that resulted in a broken neck. Oh well, dumb luck for her.

Jessica turned around, a grin on her face, ready to take on what remained of the overly prepped promethean soldiers. But as she looked up, she realized she had forgotten one important thing; the krogan heavy. Typhoon fire rained down on her unshielded form, and she only just managed to raise a biotic barrier, which quickly fell in favor of diving behind cover. One salvo from that beast of a weapon would have torn her apart.

The krogan laughed sadistically, "Its over Alenko; come out of hiding. Give up, and I might make this a quick and painless death for you."

"Why?" Jessica screamed back, applying medi-gel to her long-overdue-to-be-healed wound, "I thought you krogan liked to fight your enemies while they fought, not kneeling on the ground, waiting for the bullet. Worried I'll kill you?"

"I'm not afraid of you human," the krogan agent declared, holding his typhoon above him like a stick, "My orders are clear; you're not leaving this place alive."

"I've got my own orders," Jessica dictated sternly, "I live. And if it must be so, you'll all die. I'll either leave in a body bag, or I'll leave, walking and talking. Either way, I leave this place, right?"

"Of course," the krogan smugly replied.

"Then enough bullshit," Jessica declared, launching a biotic shockwave at the conformed group of agents converging on her slowly, "Lets play."

The agents were sent scattering; either avoiding the blast or being scattered _by _that blast, sent flying over the railing or slamming into walls. Those that survived were quickly put down by Jessica herself, and she turned to the krogan, her pose defiant, and pulse rifle in hand. She gave the krogan a stern glare, the agent giving it full in return. Before she could say anything, Veetor quickly joined her side, pointing a pistol at him while shaking. A grin crossed her features, "Finally decided to fight, ambassador?"

"I could cower behind a bar, just like I've always cowered," Veetor stated, looking up at the krogan, "Your uncle Shepard made me better than that. My wife made me better than that."

"And I'll make you a rotting corpse. That sounds alot more fun if you ask me," the krogan interrupted, lowering his typhoon at them, "This does seem way too easy, but I guess I'll go for it; I'll get a promotion, nonetheless. Any last words?"

"You did not just perform the number one cliche," Jessica complained, sighing, "You do realize that some deus ex machina is going to happen now, right? Someone is just going to appear out of thin air to convienently save us at the right time. I'm telling you...its going to happen at any second now."

"What are you on abou-"

The krogan never finished as someone decloaked behind him and before he could turn around, a knife appeared around his throat, a gush of blood shooting out as his neck was ripped open. The figure drew back and waited for the krogan to drop his weapon before giving him a rough shove, causing the massive tank to fall off the catwalk and come to a wet thud on the ground below. Tearing their eyes away from the body, Jessica looked up, along with Veetor, and smiled at who she saw.

The same black outfit, the same black hoodie, the same white eyes; age hadn't changed her at all. As it didn't her skills it seemed; modern medical technology worked wonders.

"You just had to ruin my grand entrance, didn't you?" The figure asked snarkily, voice hoarse and old, but still holding the same comedy it always did, "I wish you wouldn't do that kiddo, it really does ruin the moment. I felt like a big hero there for a second," she jumped off the catwalk and nimbly landed on the ground, motioning for them to follow her outside, cloaking again as she left.

"Who's that? I seem to remember her alittle, but I can't remember her face," Veetor asked as they ran outside, following the former savior of the galaxy, or one of them at least. As they got outside, they saw three more dead agents, all collected around her prone form. The figure looked up and smiled behind her hood, obviously trying to capture the same innocence and youth and energy she once had. _She likes to pretend._

"I know who you are!" Veetor remembered, the image of the figure smiling and bowing coming to mind, "You're Kasumi Goto!"

The old thief smiled weakly, "Kasumi yes. Goto...not anymore. I am Kasumi Vakarian, at your service."

"Wait...your husband is Garrus Vakarian?" Veetor asked.

"Which one?" Kasumi asked snarkily, "We have a son named Garrus Junior; an inside joke of mine. I like to poke fun at him when I call for him and both answer," she laughed, "That was, well, until he was killed during the war," she lost her smile, "Junior, I mean. But that doesn't matter, we need to leave. Prometheus have agents all around this place; I've got a skycar nearby."

"Where are we going?"

"Far from the Citadel; its too dangerous here."

"Maybe Aunt Shepard can help," Jessica suggested, "She's deep in quarian politics; if she can..."

"She's being watched by Promethean agents; do you remember a woman by the name of Reia'Inas?" Kasumi asked as they rapidly approached her skycar, Veetor in tow.

"Vaguely, yes," Jessica admitted, "She was somekind of high-class smartass, but underneath was the visage of a warrior. She's cunning, dangerous and ruthless in combat. She hates Tali'Shepard, and Tali'Shepard hates her, that's well known, mostly due to Tali having killed her mother when she worked for Prometheus decades ago."

"That's hardly vague girl," Kasumi commented, arriving at her skycar and opening the door for both of them to get inside. They did so and the thief closed the door, making sure noone could see them before getting in the driver's seat and taking off, "Either way, yes, Reia is keeping a close eye on Tali and her special interrogation subject. If Tali were any younger, she'd kick Reia's ass, but unfortunately, none of us big heroes are what we used to be. Shepard's dead, Garrus and I are too old to drop into a combat zone let alone wage war and Tali barely walk up the stairs to her own bedroom. Prometheus has timed their attack well; Cerberus bided their time, waited patiently, and then attacked. Influence is a weed, Lord Varys would say."

"Lord Varys?" Veetor and Jessica asked at the same time.

"Game of Thrones. You wouldn't understand," Kasumi hurriedly stated, "All you need to know, is that Prometheus is planning something big. I don't know what it is, but I've been keeping tabs on the many governments of the galaxy and I've been getting help from the Shadow Broker, and it appears that Prometheus has been making strange requests. They've placed increased focus on diverting materials away from the war effort to trying to the Andromeda Project."

"Andromeda project?" Jessica asked in confusion, "As in the Andromeda Galaxy?"

"Yeah, its a project that's been revived and cancelled again and again over the decades. All failed attempts to reach the Andromeda galaxy and the M33. Call it a 'Super Mass Relay' that allows for transporation between galaxies. And for some reason, Prometheus has put a huge focus on it. Why? Who the hell knows. By now, I'm sure you know Prometheus is Cerberus, don't you?"

"I still don't get how that's possible," the spectre insisted, "The Illusive Man is dead."

"But not the ideals," Veetor replied, "He died, and so did his organization, but the ideals lived on. Cerberus is an idea, not just an organization. And ideas are harder to destroy than you'd think. This idea has lived on and has given seed to Prometheus, which is about as dirty as any one organization can get. If my information is right, they'll most likely try to shut down the Broker next."

"Which is why I'm taking you to the Broker herself," Kasumi declared, letting the skycar descend on the docks, "You ever wanted to meet Aunt Liara, Jess?"

"Damn right," Jessica declared, "Maybe she'll have answers as to why everything is going to shit."

"Prometheus isn't the only worry," Kasumi stated, "The Sanctum is still pretty pissed about the Shadow Broker attack on Alpha, and the Covenant seem to be getting smarter. I don't know about you, but this entire war seems to be getting closer to an end, and I don't like how the ending looks or particulary how its colored."

"What's wrong with the color?"

"Its red. Dark red," the thief flinched, "Red in the blood of trillions. The Dominion may not be saints, but like it or not, the Maginot Line is all that stands between the Dominion and the Covenant. If they break through, all hell will break loose. The war will end, trillions will die."

"Our military is superior in everyway," Jessica told her, "That might not win wars, but in terms of the Covenant, we'd crush their armada extremely quickly if they ever broke through."

"You're right," Veetor stated, before giving her a knowing look, "But what if the Covenant had the technological advantage?"

Jessica widened her eyes, "What are you-?"

"Prometheus doesn't choose sides; it supplies both. Prometheus has always had an ulterior motive the entire time, and now it all comes to fruition. Don't you under, Spectre Alenko? Prometheus doesn't fight for the Dominion, they don't fight for Sanctum or the Covenant either. They don't fight for anyone; they're fighting to see us kill each other. That's why this war exists; it was engineered so that we'd bomb each other into submission, and when its all over, and the dust has cleared, Prometheus will stand on top."

Jessica looked between them both before looking back at Kasumi, who gave her a look of despair she had never seen on the thief's face before.

"Prometheus has played us both. They were twindling their thumbs and waiting for the downfall, and now they have it. Earth is well-protected they know that. They managed to convince the Coalition to nuke Thessia and occupy Palaven, along with Sur'Kesh, which removes the asari, turians and salarians as a threat. Now they've just got to eliminate the rest. Dominion and Covenant will wipe out each other, Dominion will win phyrricly and then civil war erupts between the krogan, humans and quarians. Prometheus helps humans, everyone else loses. And if the galaxy is uninhabitable afterwards? Well..."

"...there's always Andromeda."

**{Loading...}**

_August 17, 2251_

_1000 hours._

_Observation Deck, Upper Ward, Prometheus Headquarters, Unknown Sector._

_Terra-Rannochian War._

_Prometheus Commander Carter Dielheart, Captain Jaris 'Siren' Paltarons._

The Andromeda Project was a beauty to behold; the conglomeration of many decades of hard work, finally coming to together in one wholesome creation. Prometheus had bled its resources dry, but the Dominion just kept providing, unknowing as to the relay's true purpose; the station's true purpose. Carter stood on the observation deck, watching Reaper Oculi, accompanied by numerous promethean warships, patrolling the relay while Reaper Destroyers moved pieces into position and workers put them into place.

The Ark, as Han'Gerrel had christened it, was a carbon copy of the Citadel itself. A sister station. Of course, this idea had seemed ridiculous at first, especially when Han'Gerrel had ordered schematics of the Citadel's systems stolen so that they could build it exactly the same. But then he told Carter and the promethean architects that the Citadel wasn't a super relay, merely a massive one, and it didn't have the power to traverse a galaxy. But, if they were to build a sister station and connect both of them, it would create a super relay.

_He plans on taking the Citadel by force, when the time comes, and connecting both the Citadel and the Ark together to create a massive relay. But, what about the eezo source needed to disperse so much energy? The stations are massive; they would need a centralized eezo power source; one the size of a station, to pull off such a feat._

Han'Gerrel himself would be coming to oversee the operation himself. The man had been a massive investor in Prometheus since the day it was birthed and now the organization flourishes, mostly in part to the Prime Candidate of the Quarian Totalitarian Republic. Them, and the Human Systems Coalition were by far the most influential of the many species that melded the Dominion. Han'Gerrel may have been old for his time, but his ability to hold things together wasn't lost on people like Carter.

_Lesser men build the greater men; the lesser men become the greater men. Remember that Carter, when you become a Cerberus agent, and you see what the Illusive Man has to offer for your species. _He remembered his father's words well. They were old and dated, but they held truth. But he hadn't joined Cerberus; by the time he was old enough to enlist, Cerberus was a name said in stories and the Illusive Man a dead corpse in an autopsy room. His father must have shared the same fate; he had never seen him again. _But I was the lesser man; and I became the greater man._

The idea of visiting another galaxy hadn't really impressed Carter; it was just another galaxy, and it would most likely look the same as the Milky Way. But where he saw nothing but another galaxy, Prometheus saw an entire new playground; a new homeland where humanity was the only species, and ruled over their domain.

But how could they predict that? The Andromeda Galaxy would surely have other forms of life in it, possibly other sentient and sapient species, and whether or not they attained spaceflight was trivial; but what if they were _better than them? _Stronger? Smarter? More technologically advanced? It was hard to imagine anything more advanced than the Reapers, but it was fully possible. _What if Prometheus wanders in too far and brings upon the death of humanity instead of its rebirth?_

His thoughts were interrupted however by the sound of teeth grinding against metal; or, at least, that's what Carter thought of the sound that came out of Jaris' mouth everytime he 'talked.' The man was about as helpful as he could be, but also increasingly annoying. A powerful and unrivalled biotic, but a witless idiot when it came to actually negoitating and discussing tactics. _Prometheus has bred its own Kai Leng. We already have our own Dielheart and our own Illusive Man, as quarian as he is, so why not a Kai Leng? Bring me an AI while you are fucking at it._

He ignored Jaris' presence for as long as he dared before turning to face the biotic, whose sunken features seemed to look into Carter's expectantly.

"Well? Are you going to say something or do we have to stand here awkwardly?" Carter asked incredulously.

Jaris grinded his teeth, "Han'Gerrel wants to see you; its about the project."

"You needed an invitation from me to say that?" Carter rolled his eyes and, not waiting for an answer, immediately turned to leave, heading for the new 'Illusive' office. The 'Humanity's Sanctum' it had been called on Cronos Station, before being blown up. Carter didn't bother to take note of Jaris following him and just kept walking, wanting to eagerly know why Gerrel had called a meeting.

Knowing the corridors of the station like the back of his hand, Carter quickly found the new control center and moved inside, finding Han'Gerrel himself situated at one end of the table, accompanied by numerous other promethean division commanders, and the leader of Prometheus herself, Cassandra Reynolds.

Han'Gerrel turned to Carter upon his entry and smiled, "Ah, Mr. Dielheart, take a seat. We were just waiting for you."

Carter nodded and sat at the table, pushing himself in and leaning forward, hands glasped together on the table. There were a total of eight different divisions of Prometheus, and all their commanders were here, including him, who commanded Central Division.

Han'Gerrel sighed heavily and coughed, also leaning forward as he began to speak. The quarian was supposedly 120 years old, and was still fighting strong, but noone could believe it. Even for the current medical implants for old people, Han seemed more energetic than normal for someone of his age. _Rumors even say that he should be dead. Yet here is, sitting before us, alive and well._

"You're all probably wondering why I assembled you here today," Gerrel announced, "Well, its not about Andromeda; that project is proceeding nicely, and the Ark should be completely within the year, as the project lead has informed me. What does concern me however, is the current termination of everyone assiociated with Shepard's team, including those in relation with him. Carter, I believe you're in command of central division, yes?"

Carter widened his eyes, "That I am sir."

"Care to explain to me why you ordered central division troops to carry out these orders without Reynolds' or my sanction?"

"Sir, I never ordered anything of the sort," Carter told him, "If I wanted a job like that done, I'd have sent Jaris. He's brutal and far more discreet. I assure you, if I had given the orders, I would have asked for your permission first and foremost."

"I've checked the records Dielheart, they were central division units. And for a job that should be under a promethean banner, it was done rather loudly!" Han'Gerrel stood up, looking at him with anger, "I cannot believe that you ordered a corvette to attack an interceptor over _bloody Virmire! _You could have alerted the Dominion to the whole damn operation! Not to mention ordering in a damn battleship! And then order a hit on Spectre Alenko and _Ambassador Nara _in a night club? What in ancestors' name compelled you to ignore all discretion and attack them in the open! You almost exposed us!"

Carter stood to his defense, hands slamming down on the table, "I would never have allowed such a thing to happen! When as an operation under my juristiction ever failed to be subtle or discreet? Never! Men under my command are the most versatile, stealthy and well-trained infiltrators in all of Prometheus. A fuck-up on this scale is simply not possible; I would have ordered Jaris or Reia to oversee such a delicate operaton, you know that sir."

Han'Gerrel gave him a weary look, "You cannot deny it, Central Division is your sector and therefore you must have given the orders. I cannot allow-"

"It was me sir," Reynolds spoke up, "I ordered the hit, through Central channels. The fault lies with me."

Gerrel and Carter's looks switched to Reynolds, who now stood up fully, her imposing height looming over all of them, even Gerrel. The Prime Candidate gave Reynolds a cold look before standing straight and walking over to her at the end of the table, "And why, under what pretences, were you given the idea that you could do this without my authority?"

"It was a delicate operation sir, I didn't think you'd need to be informed," Reynolds assured him.

"That's because you didn't think," Gerrel declared without emotion, moving to stand beside her looking up at her and somehow managing to intimidate even that giant of a woman, "You fucked up. You almost put Prometheus in the spotlight, and if it weren't for me paying C-Sec not to act and delaying the Virmire Orbital Patrol from investigating, we'd have been revealed. You are collateral damage."

"It won't happen again sir, I swear it. I will do everything I can to rectify the situation."

"Excellent," Gerrel coldly stated before moving behind her and unsheating his knife. Before anyone could warn Reynolds, Han had her by the throat and rammed the knife in, causing her to shout out in brief pain. She grabbed at her throat, trying desperately to breathe while also trying to seal the wound, but Gerrel didn't let her; simply holding her back by the hair and showing her off to the group, "Watch her, all of you. This is the price of failure in this organization. This is the price of fucking up in this organization. Do what she did, and this is you. Paint that picture in your mind, and it might be a little motivation."

And with that, Reynolds stopped breathing, and her neck was dark red with the sticky liquid of her blood. Han let go and let her body collapse onto the table, blood flooding along it and ruining the orange look of its appearence. Gerrel didn't even flinch, instead moving to sit back where he had been. Carter noticed some of the commanders looked uncomfortable at the sight of Reynold's dead body while Carter seemed fixated by the blood that was dripping off the table and onto his lap; the blood seeping onto everyone's laps.

Gerrel sat down, seeming not to notice. Someone managed to speak up over the dead silence, "Sir-when sh-sh-she said she'd rectify the-the situation, you said 'excellent', almost like you'd let her do so. T-then you killed her."

"Yes, I did, didn't I?" Gerrel jested, as if completely unaware of the dead corpse spewing blood over the table down infront of him, "Well, I was talking to the Leader of Prometheus, not Cassandra Reynolds. Cassandra Reynolds is dead, as you can see, so we'll need another leader to rectify the situation. Seeing as I wouldn't trust anyone else with the rank, as everyone else, as I can tell, are just cowards who can't stand a dead corpse, I think Mr. Dielheart will lead Prometheus from now on."

Carter, originally still in his transe, looked up at the Prime Candidate, looking at him incredulously, "Me, sir? I'd feel honored but-"

"I don't give a rat's arse about what you feel honored by; I'm telling you that you're the new leader of Prometheus," Gerrel forcefully told him, "I don't need you to like it, I need you to do it well. Don't fuck up like Cassandra, or I'll make a demonstration with your body that involves indoctrination and a plasma engine. Are we clear?"

"Crystal sir," Carter replied.

"Good, now-"

Gerrel's words drowned out as Carter continued to watch the blood slowly trickle off the table and onto the floor, almost as if in slow motion. But everytime he looked at that blood, all he could see was his body, Gerrel's knife in his neck, his life blood leaking out of his corpse. Carter had to do his best, or he could join Reynolds as a lifeless corpse. _Lesser men create the greater men. Reynolds may not be a man, but she was greater than me, and I helped, in a way, forge her own demise, to which I now sit beside her corpse, inexplicitably her successor. Thank you father, I've learnt another lesson today._

_Lesser men forge the greater men, and the bodies of greater ones make the lesser ones great. I do believe that is just what Prometheus was. And now I'm its leader. Its like it was destined to be._

Carter smiled.

**Uyal'fi: **Quarian curse word. Cannot be translated into english; although can be implied as 'fuck.'

_**A/N:**_

_**I might be able to get the next chapter out soon, but it'll have to be before Tuesday. If it isn't out before then, then it won't be for another nine days as I'm going on vacation and will be out of range of the internet. However, this is good for me as it allows me to work more on the chapters and get a few chapters ahead of the story before I return, meaning I will at least have three or four chapters ready and down by the time I come back! **_

_**Don't worry, it won't kill you to wait. You've waited long enough for this one, haven't you? And yes, you thought 2251 was going to be uneventful didn't you? Think again!**_

_**Also, if you want an overall main theme for the state of the galaxy in 2251, I recommend this music. It really does fit the mood of a distraught and divided galaxy. **_

_watch?v=qsZf2llz9vA_. Link doesn't work for some reason (doesn't reach it directly). So when you do put it into the address bar and hit enter, click on the first video to appear (Inception - Time (Extended)).


	5. Chapter 4 Unrest

**REQUIEM**

**CHAPTER FOUR:**

**UNREST**

_August 10, 2251_

_1820 hours._

_Cockpit, Oceanic-Class Stealth Corvette CSV Iwojima, Hoc System, Within 100 Galactic Miles of Virmire. Ship Terminated._

_Terra-Rannochian War._

_Lance Corporal Thane'Shepard pav Rannoch._

The world was black. No color, no texture, no people, no society. Nothing but the black tide, all encompassing. And it was peaceful; eerily full of solace. But black was the color of death for humans; and Thane knew what that meant. And suddenly, almost as if it was yanked away from him, the black was no longer peaceful, but full of dread, and Thane felt fear. Was he dead? He tried to remember what had happened, but nothing was clear. Nothing was certain in his head.

The black was so encompassing that he didn't even feel like he was moving; yet he knew he was. He could feel his feet making the movements, his hands gesturing towards him and the feel of the air blowing on his face; almost like a cool breeze. He tried desperately to remember what had happened to spark the current events he found himself in.

It was then, as if scripted, that the memories returned. Interceptor. Virmire. Sister. Ashley. Corvette attack. Board. Killed the captain. Held crew hostage. Battleship attacks. Corvette destroyed...dead. They were dead. They had to be; who could survive an attack like that? If they couldn't during the Reaper War, then they couldn't now.

_Reby. No, she can't be dead. I can't be dead. Something's not right. Should I even feel anything if I'm dead? _He was answered by the sound of distant beeping and...sparks? Yes, sparks flinging against metal. If he was dead, he shouldn't be able to hear something like that. But when he turned to the source of the sound, he heard nothing. But then he heard hissing...followed by moaning; the sound metal makes when put under pressure.

He turned around more, but still couldn't hear where the sounds were coming from. He flinched when static burst into his ear, loud and harsh; the sound of a dead comm channel. _Wait...those sounds...my senses must be slowly returning to me. _To advocate his point, his ability to smell slowly returned, and he could smell smoke. No...he wasn't quite sure what that smell was.

Then he gasped, then groaned, then screamed as pain slowly crept up his arm and then, within seconds, completely engulfed it. He moved to cradle his arm and he quickly found it, holding it while whimpering at the pain. _I've broken my arm. And I'm definitely alive; my mother always told me that you'll know you're dead when you feel nothing. She wouldn't tell me if there was an Afterlife, saying that my father never told her what death was like._

Somehow knowing he could, he opened his eyes slowly, so he could adjust to the vision. As he did so however, he was met by the ceiling of the corvette's cockpit, and all he needed to do was look at it to know the full extent of the damage; a flung open air vent, leaking gas, sparks flying from ruptured control panels and a massive hole.

Grunting, Thane sat up and immediately widened his eyes in shock at the sight held before him. Everything up to the elevator was all that was left intact; everything past the elevator had been severed and cut clean in half; hell, the elevator was completely gone, even from the other half of the ship that was now hanging loosely off the bow section that Thane occupied.

He was surprised he could breathe; the ship had no power, so therefore the mass effect fields would have failed instantly and reserve power lay in the back of the ship; which was now no longer connected; let alone existing. The first shot of the Coalition battleship's thanix had completely destroyed the rear of the vessel, the second cutting it in half.

When Thane looked around, he saw that his suit had survived the attack and his helmet was still attached, explaining his supply of oxygen. He sighed in relief as he continued to look around, further noticing that he was floating through empty void in the wreck of what used to be the cockpit of the CSV Iwojima, now a floating wreck. Maybe if he waited for a bit, a patrol vessel might come and rescue him. He still had enough oxygen to last him a week, so all he had to do was hope they'd investigate soon. Besides, it wasn't safe for shipping lanes.

_Reby. _No, he couldn't just sit here. He needed to find her. To know she was okay. He wouldn't label her dead until he saw her body himself.

He grunted as he tried to grab hold of something, but there was barely anything sturdy to grab ahold of. The cockpit was basically just twisted metal, and if it weren't for the bodies floating near him, he wouldn't have even recognized it. But he kept trying. He needed to get out of here and search the debris. Well, the ones that hadn't floated away already, or been caught in Nemata's atmosphere.

His three fingered hands continued to stumble, but still found nothing. Instead, he chose to look around, get a look for his surroundings. To his growing trepidation, he could see the form of Nemata, an extremely blazing planet used for mining by the Dominion, looming in the distance. It was still small enough to fit in his hand, but the fact that his part of the wreckage was floating in its direction was bad. Nemata was known for being almost as hot as the planet Mercury in the Sol System, and Thane didn't want to imagine incinerating painfully on its surface. _If _he made it to the surface. If he was lucky, maybe one of the mining stations in orbit would rescue him, but it was unlikely.

The cockpit was obviously a dead end; so when another piece of debris made its way over to Thane, he grabbed hold of it, placed his feet firmly ontop of it and pushed up, launching himself towards a passing piece of debris; the biggest surviving piece of the Iwojima. It looked like the rear section of the vessel and last he remembered, Reby was in that area when the shots first hit. Hopefully she was in there. And alive.

With ragged breaths, he watched as he weightlessly drifted towards the twisted hunk of crap that the Iwojima had been dumbed down too. He saw that most of the ship's paintwork had been melted off by the heat of the thanix shots, leaving blank, grey metal in its midst. The body of a dead promethean marine floated by, lifeless. The man still held his rifle, and Thane quickly relieved him of it, before quickly kicking the man's body away. Rifle gripped in his hands, he lowered it behind him and fired, letting the shots propel him through space at a faster pace.

Before he could turn around, he let out a grunt as his back hit the hull hard and cold metal met his back. Without a second thought, he reprieved one hand of its grip on the rifle barrel and quickly latched it onto anything he could find to get a grip. He found a service ladder, and quickly discovered that the hull he was on wasn't the outside of a ship; it was _inside _a corridor. A hull had torn through it, leaving one wall gone. Thane grabbed hold of it, strapped the gun on his back and began climbing, hoping to find a vent inside.

Luck hit him again; one of the hatches had tried to seal itself during the attack, but obviously power had failed before it could fully seal, leaving it half open. With a sigh, Thane slipped both hands inside the hatch's entrance and grabbed hold of both sides, immediately trying to push it to opposite sides. The hatch was strong, but he was stronger, and he quickly opened it, allowing himself to get inside. Unfortunately for him, the hatch wouldn't stay open, and would close upon entrance. _I might need to get out this way._

His thoughts drifted to the rifle on his back and he quickly equipped it, jamming it inbetween both seals and holding it open. He slowly backed away, still weightless, and watched with a smile as the rifle held and didn't snap or float away. Satisfied, he spun himself around to find himself in a corridor. He had no idea what such a small, circular hatch could have been for, but he was past caring; he just wanted to find his friend. _Please let her be alive._

As he floated through the corridor of the derelict ship, all he could see was the same dull grey walls meeting him, with the same promethean insignias imprinted upon them. But as he rounded the corner, he found engineering...or what was left of it. Not seeing Reby, he began to panic and launched himself into the remnants of the engine room, finding the drive core completely absent and replaced by the stars of space.

The bodies of the engineering crew were long gone and wires and cables floated through the void; the only thing left of engineering were the consoles that had faced the drive core, but now stood vigil in the corpse of a vessel. The corvette felt like one big grave, and he certainly hoped his name and Reby's wouldn't be added to the large number of names engraved in the ship's dead corridors.

The words 'Iwojima' were plastered on the wall when he turned the corner, and below it, translations in khelish, japanese, and multiple other languages, the last one being cut off by a scorch mark and burnt out machinery. To his brief amusement, he saw the corpse of a burnt spider floating through space, suddenly remembering his mother's logical fear of the arachnids. _Score one for my mum._

His fear quickly returned however when he saw Reby was not present. A tear fell down his cheek, but as he was beginning to lose hope, he saw a three-fingered hand appear from the other corner. He immediately spun back around, and watched as Reby's body came into full view. She wasn't awake though; her suit was still intact, but she was unconscious, most likely knocked out by the blast like he was.

He also saw that her left arm had a thick looking cable tied to it; keeping her attached to the ship so she wouldn't float away. _She had time enough to do that. But is she alive? She has to be. Nothing wrong with her suit from what I see. But I don't know, something doesn't look-_

As he moved towards her, and her face came into view, his breath caught in his throat and a look of horror ran across his face; there was obviously a hole in her suit, recent by the look of it, and air was pouring out in white fumes and leaking into space, her life force. If he didn't stop it, she would die.

He finally stopped infront of her and grabbed her arm pulling her towards the wall with him so he could untangle her from the cable wrapped around her wrist. He held her steady while doing it, but when done, he had no idea what to do. He was on a clock, and panicking, but was clueless as to what to do next. He looked at her, and then at the hole, only to see that it was small enough to be sealed by a piece of cloth. He quickly grabbed a piece of his veil, ripped a piece off and stuffed it into the suit breach, effectively sealing it.

He sighed in relief and let her go for a moment; his fingers danced as he opened his omni-tool and patched into her suit systems, doing a check of it all to make sure she was alive. He was awarded with good news and bad news, the latter of which killed some of his joy at seeing her alive. _Her heartbeat is steady, her lungs are taking in oxygen and brain activity is normal. She's got a bruised back and a broken ankle, but nothing a doctor can't fix. But her oxygen reserves._

She had ten minutes of oxygen left.

He had failed her; reached her too late. Even if a patrol vessel came to investigate, they wouldn't get there in time; the response time from Virmire to their area would definitely be more then ten minutes, and by that point, Reby would be beyond resuscitating. Even if he could resuscitate her, it would be pointless, seeing as she'd have nothing to breathe but-

His thoughts halted and he gulped, looking down at her. He suddenly felt heat rushing to her cheeks and behind the helmet, he looked into her closed eyes, listening to her light breathing over the comm they shared. He examined her body; as he, to his annoyance, did alot. But it was hard not to; she was petite young quarian woman. Balanced hips, large breasts, slim legs and a beautiful face. When Tali had met her, she had said that she reminded her of herself during her youth; when she was still a pilgrim infatuated with her commanding officer.

But as he looked at her; it wasn't out of love, it was out of nervousness. He and Reby had always been friends, closer to siblings actually, due to Tali personally knowing Reby's mother, Madi, and they were like brother and sister, almost. They had shared a bond that made their friendship that much stronger, and although Reby was his superior, she always treated him as a equal. And now he had an idea he never thought would be necessary.

Thane had plentiful oxygen supply, but Reby had none. To save her, he would need to link his suit environment with hers so he could share his oxygen with her; more than long enough to find a way off this ship, or wait for help. Thane's omni-tool could page a nearby patrol ship at a moment's notice.

Thane had been born when quarians were still getting used to not living in suits, so he knew of quarian 'flotilla traditions.' He knew of the pilgrimage, the Admiralty, the Conclave, clean rooms, the suits and of course...suit linking. A gesture of intimacy done only between lovers...and he wasd about to do it with Reby.

He didn't love her; or at least, that's what he tried to convince himself of. They were just friends; good friends. And he was linking suits with her to save her life, not to make love. Just the thought of the latter made him blush, and that hesitation was killing Reby. In the end, he knew what he had to do, and why he had to do it. He couldn't let embarassment stop him. That was childish and would cost the life of his best friend. His sister, in some respects.

So, with some hesitation, he unsealed a suit clamp and attached to both his and Reby's suits, effectively linking them. He watched as a 'Suit Docking Request' popped up on his HUD, and he accepted it, completing the link. Having saved Reby, he looked back up and thought of what to do next. Checking his omni-tool, he made sure the distress call was sent before just standing there, holding Reby in his arms. If she woke up, their linked suits would be very hard to explain.

Luckily enough, thanks to his actions, she _would _be waking up.

And as he looked blankly at the stars, he thought about current events. Prometheus wanting them dead. They were still alive and were targets; for now, they were KIA according to Prometheus, but when they popped up on the radar again...no, Thane and Reby were effectively fugitives now. On the run.

Question was, where could they run to?

**{Loading...}**

_August 11, 2251_

_1554 hours._

_Observation Deck, Avatar Gun Station, In Orbit over Gellix, Arrae System, Minos Wasteland Cluster._

_Terra-Rannochian War._

_Maintenance Technician Second Class Fortack Veal, Maintenance Technician Third Class Bilosa Tord._

He missed Nodacrux; his home planet. It was a small colony located in the Vostok System of the Maroon Sea Cluster, deep in Dominion territory and had originally been populated by humans and quarians, but had been abandoned and left for the krogan as a gift of appreciation for their acception of the Manifesto of the Galactic Dominion. Of course, Fortack had been an only child and already lived on Nodacrux before the manifesto, having been adopted by a human/quarian couple after his parents were killed by the Reapers in the 'Great War.'

When he had been old enough, which was after he completed the Rite of Passage, he had joined the Unified Dominion Navy under the Confederacy's alabama crimson and amber Shield of Hagalok. He wasn't a very good krogan due to the parents who raised him; his human mother was an architect who claimed to have helped build the Anderson Stadium on Haestrom and his father a maintenance tech on Epitaph Station. He got his current skills from his father.

When he joined the navy, he expected to be serving on a frontline warship, or even on the Maginot Line. He had always dreamed of serving on a respectable ship, like a dreadnought, most notably the Deep Savannah, the flagship of the defensive line. Hell, he didn't care if he served on a space station, like Epitaph, Shepard, the Orbit or Requiem. But when he asked for a frontline posting, this hadn't been part of his expectations.

He got a frontline posting alright; he had been assigned beyond the safety of Dominion space, past the Maginot Line and into Covenant territory. A small colonial group, escorted by a handful of fighters and a few corvettes lead by a frigate, bypassed the Covenant sensory network, which was mostly watched by the yahg or indoctrinated agents, which they blocked by using a stealth net and infiltrated the Minos Wasteland, heading straight for Gellix, a uncolonized garden world.

And now here he was; watching as the same, barren ships of different colors blew to and from the planet below to gather supplies and build a listening post on the planet, hoping to be able to spy on Covenant activities and hopefully gain a further military advantage over them. If the Dominion was getting this desperate, it was obvious they were planning a major offensive. _Maybe they're planning an advantage on Covenant space? That could explain the need for this listening post. But why me? _Standing on a space station wasn't as exciting as serving on a warship. Dangerous and risky, but hardly fun.

Avatar was one of two planned space stations to be built over Gellix as 'gun stations'. Their main purpose however was as satellites; stations used to connect Gellix to the rest of the Dominion and allow for tightbeam communications through a quantum entanglement network, allowing the listening post to relay information to the Military Board and, if necessary, the Maginot Line. Avatar and Shade gun stations were to be lightly armed; a few missile pods and two battleship main guns fueled by the station's thermonuclear reactor. In the event of station capture, francium is injected into the reactor, causing the reactor to explode with three times the force of the citybuster dropped on Hiroshima back on Earth. The ultimate failsafe.

Of course, this light armament was supplemented by hardcore heavy shielding; a new type of kinetic barrier that combined the use of Reaper kinetic technology, element zero and cyclonic barrier tech made by Tali'Shepard vas Rannoch, creating an almost impenetrable barrier. Of course, the power required for such shielding was substantial, which required the reactors to be online first. None of the station reactors were online yet; Shade Station was close to completion, but half of Avatar was still space at the moment.

"You look tired Veal," a familiar voice sounded behind the krogan, "Maybe you should take a nap. I can cover your shift; sure the supervisor won't notice."

Veal smiled and turned to see his fellow tech come out from the shadows, her drell form illuminated by the light of Arrae. Drell females were a rarity in Dominion space, as they mostly stayed on Kahje. He didn't know much about drell, apart from the drell apparently having wasted their own homeworld of Rakhana around eight hundred and seventy years ago and were rescued by the hanar before they went extinct. That had all changed now; the drell had adapted to Kahje and Kepral's syndrome was few and rare, affecting only a select few. The Dominion won the drell over by promising to help them reconlonize Rakhana, an offer which they gladly took.

Drell females weren't all that remarkable or even that different from males; they had long green tentacles that expanded from their head like human hair and softer skin, along with the telltale signs of breasts that almost all alien females did. Bilosa's weren't all that noticable and her form not as slender as most women, as she had gotten to taking food for granted. He had only just met Bilosa a day ago, but he already liked her and considered befriending her. He hadn't had the chance to talk to her at length due to work.

He let a tired smile cross his face as he looked back out the window and down at Gellix; the garden world that was never used, "Not tired, just bored. This posting is killing me with his tediousness."

Bilosa laughed, a smile creeping across her puffed, green reptilian lips, "Story of the century; everyone I've talked to love it. They say that helping the Dominion take down the 'covenant scum' is like a dream come true for them. Most them aren't even military; they're civilian contractors hired by the Dominion to perform this under military juristiction, but don't let that fool you; I'm pretty sure our guards are Blue Suns and Red Sky mercenaries. Not unreliable, but hardly military."

"They're not me. I love adventure; they love it calm and quiet, but I built my skills so I could maintain a ship during combat, not a station when its nice and quiet and the ships around us are doing the fighting."

Bilosa looked at him with a quizzical expression, like she was trying to uncover some grand mystery about his average existence, "For a krogan, I thought you'd be the one guarding us, not the other way around. Most krogan are warriors, not techs."

"And most drell are assassins, not techs," Veal harmlessly shot back, the krogan wrinkling his brow, "I'm not a very good krogan, Tord. My parents weren't even krogan. If a varren is raised by a human instead of a varren parent, is it going to become a predator or a pet? I'm no architect like my mother, but I learnt the ways of technology the way my father taught me. My mother wanted me to be the best I could be, but my father just wanted me to continue his legacy as a mechanic. He's of the Yala clan, you see."

"A krogan tech who doesn't want to be a warrior? You made my day," the drell responded, "And seriously, call me Bilosa. You're _my _superior, so I'm supposed to call you Fortack or something. Was your father _the _Fortack by any chance? The scientific chief for the Confederate military?"

"No. My parents were killed during the Reaper War during the final battle. They were being lead by Battelord Grunt himself," he responded with pride, "I was ninety-two when they died, still a child by krogan standards. I still am, but I guess human and quarian lifespans made them treat me differently. To them, I'm an old man."

"I always pitied human and quarian lifespans. So drastically short," Bilosa admitted, "We drell don't live much longer; only until we're 300 or so. It used to be until 30, 40 or 50 when Kepral's ravaged our people, but that's changed now. But I've never planned on living with a human or a quarian, so it didn't bother me. I don't expect to settle down with anyone if I'm honest; I'm a bit of a timid, woman. Asexual, if you'd like. I hope you don't find that unsettling."

"Doesn't bother me. I've bred with some krogan women, as is required of me for the Rite of Honor and I'm sure I have strong and healthy sons and daughters by now, but long lasting relationships or marriage don't concern me," Veal firmly declared, "Love is the death of duty, I heard someone once say. Said it was a quote from some popular book. Don't care what it was, but I thought it made sense. I've never been into women anyway."

"Then we share common opinions," Bilosa charismatically pointed out.

"Apparently," he grunted. With a sigh, he turned to her, suddenly having an idea, "You want to go grab a drink? The supervisor shouldn't notice."

Bilosa let a devilish smile cross her face, "Why not? I haven't had a good drink in months; always been on tour duty. Never got chance for furlough. But where would we get them?"

"I've got a stash of ryncol I brought for when I'm on break if you want some," he offered.

The drell squinted her face, "Ryncol's said to be for krogan use only; screws with the bowels and I've heard the digestion is beyond painful for non-krogan. And when it comes to letting it all out, it feels like acid travelling down your throat."

"So that's a yes?" He laughed.

Bilosa slapped him on the shoulder, "No! I'm not as tough as I may look! I am merely a tech, Mister Krogan Warrior."

He slapped her back, "Tech! Mister Krogan Tech!"

"Maybe I don't think your name is fullfilling! Maybe I want to-"

"Is everything alright in here? I heard yelling."

Both of them wheeled around to see a Red Sky merc standing in the doorway, looking at them. The Red Sky's were a mercenary organization covertly developed upon the remnants of the Lawson-Fredler Company, founded by Miranda Lawson and garnering funds for its development from the Systems Alliance, before it turned into the Systems Coalition. It had started off as an organization that was hired by multiple factions to keep other mercenary factions in check, such as the recovering Eclipse and Blood Pack. Blue Suns weren't a problem, as they were run by Zaeed Massani, an ally of Captain Shepard.

Eventually, the Post-War Apocalypse came around the corner, and Miranda's loyalty was divided. Eventually, she accepted the contract of the quarians due to her loyalty to Shepard's cause and eventually fought on the side of the Coalition in the war, but didn't get involved in periods such as the Thessian Fallout or Battle of the Migrant Fleet. Eventually, Miranda signed a final contract that meant that the Red Sky was finally recognized as a military entity, and was payed by the quarians themselves.

"We're fine," Vael began, soon wishing he hadn't, "We're-" he regretted his words; they were like a jinx, and that jinx just now came to bite him in the ass.

An explosion rocked the station and it seemed to rumble, but Vael quickly realized that an onboard explosion would have sent them to the ground; it was small, and the vibrations would have carried easily. He soon hit an epiphany; the explosion was of foreign origin. Bilosa gasped and pointed out the window, mortified by the sight she saw. By the red light and the explosion reflecting off the window, he knew something had gone terribly wrong. Red Sky and Blue Suns mercenaries alike ran into the room, looking outside at the sight.

Vael looked out the window and widened his eyes.

The lead flagship of the expedition, a geth frigate by the name of Piety, was no more; something had hit it and caused it to blow apart, debris exploding in multiple directions. Small pieces hit the station's hull and did no damage, while luckily, most of the major debris either entered the atmosphere or floated harmlessly away, but either way, something had attacked and destroyed the geth frigate, meaning only one thing; they were under attack.

It was then that the alarms blared and he looked up to see a Covenant fleet baring down on them; batarian, turian, tilthan, yahg and a few raloi. Batarians, being the leaders of the Covenant, lead the fleet with a single dreadnought, thanix cannon cooling down after it made victim of the frigate. Without it, the Dominion was severely outclassed and their communications weren't set up properly, meaning they couldn't send a distress call. The reactor still wasn't active, so their defenses were useless.

The Dominion battlegroup of corvettes and fighters rallied to their defense, but it was a hopeless battle. A yahg dreadnought, which was a common terminology considering that dreadnoughts were the only warship yahg ever made, quickly swept in from the side and made a run for Shade Station while a Tilthan carrier deployed fighters to distract their forces while the bulk of the Covenant fleet, at least thirty-six vessels in total, moved to bombard the outpost on Gellix. _How did they know we were coming? We had a stealth net! Gellix should have hidden our activities from them! The Covenant couldn't have known we were coming!_

Bilosa began to back slowly away from the window and the mercenaries seemed to just stand there, weapons limp in their grasp; like they had no idea what to do. Vael couldn't blame them; what would they do? They were completely outnumbered and outgunned. Escape was suicide, as the enemy fleet could capture them as POWs or simply blast their pods in midspace. They had nowhere to go, and no way to call for help. Death was their only salvation.

Vael backed way as he watched the small Dominion forces get absolutely annihilated. The battle was short; the fighters flew infront of the corvettes, which were now effectively the capital ships, to act as a shield against the enemy fire. They took the brunt of the assault and gave them time to counterattack; streaks of light arcing up towards the covenant spacecraft and impacting their shields. A couple of enemy fighters were destroyed and the shields of a covenant frigate collapsed, but that was all the damage the Dominion got to do. The corvettes did not survive the fleet's second salvo and the yahg dreadnought and already carved through their flank and was moving to fire on Shade Station.

Evacuation alarms blared all over Avatar and the mercs fled, desperately trying to reach the escape pods. Vael gulped, watching as a covenant fleet descended upon their listening post. They didn't stand a chance...

Vael immediately looked at Bilosa and grabbed her arm, motioning for her to run. But just as they did, Bilosa gasped and pointed out the window and Vael's heart stopped when he saw what she was pointing at, predatory form stalking towards them like a psychopathic murder moving in for the kill.

The batarian dreadnought spearheading the enemy fleet had turned its attention to Avatar and its main gun loomed over them. The krogan tech knew there was no escape; they couldn't make the escape pods in time and the thanix cannon of the ship would tear through the station's hull like it was paper. They could only watch.

They barely noticed Shade Station go up in a flash of light as the dreadnought charged its thanix and fired, green light piercing their side. They felt nothing as the thanix vaporized both him and Bilosa instantly and ripped the station wide open.

And the Dominion wouldn't know until it was too late.

**{Loading...}**

_August 11, 2251_

_1611 hours._

_Courtyard, Gellix Listening Post, Eighth Continent, Gellix._

_Terra-Rannochian War._

_Corporal Sheila'Piae pav Feros._

Sirens blared as Sheila was rudely awakened from her bunk and she shot up, looking around and wandering what was going on; she was having such a nice dream. She wiped at her eyes and was about to ask Reginold what the hell was going on. She leaned over to look at the bunk below her but stopped when the building shook and the lighting flickered, causing her to topple off the bed and land on the floor below, groaning.

A rough kick hit her ribs and she immediately looked up, seeing her squad leader, a geth named Jupiter, looming over her. He was a trooper unit, like most geth were, and his armor was painted with black and red stripes. Its optics looked accusing, but the message was clear.

"Get off your ass Creator-Piae," Jupiter demanded, "Get suited up. We're under attack, in case you hadn't noticed, and you lying around won't help us repel this assault."

Sheila widened her eyes and shot up, snapping a salute before being at ease, "But-how did they find us sir? We used a stealth net!"

"Doesn't matter now, does it!?" Jupiter shouted, snapping a finger at the doorway, "Now get moving! Get to your locker and lets get suited up!" The geth turned to the rest of the squad present, "Let's move it greens! Most of you haven't fought Covenant, but today is going to be your lucky day! Move it you organic maggots! The clock is ticking and the enemy aren't going to wait nicely for you to get ready! RV at the main gate! _**Move!**_" the geth quickly hurried from the room, his squad moving him, Sheila in their midst as they rushed for the locker room.

It didn't take long to get into gear; she grabbed her rifle and shotgun, stowed a sidearm, grabbed a handful of incendiary and frag grenades, a belt of coolers, a few energy bars to supplement her biotic abilities and donned her medium combat armor; they called it hoplite because it apparently looked like the armor of some old earth civilization, including the helmet, just without the crest on top. Suited up, they all marched outside and into the open world of Gellix.

Sheila took one look at the giant mountain capped with snow that rose like a giant spire before them. Sheila, at first, couldn't see where the hostiles were, but quickly felt the ground shake, meaning an enemy ship was entering the atmosphere. She rushed forward, gripping her carbine with intent and rushed for the main gate; the first and only line defense in the listening post.

Her squad reached the main gate just in time to watch the massive form of a Tilthan carrier cast its shadow over the 2000 foot tall mountain that loomed over them. The carrier looked like a floating box...except with armor. _Aren't the Virtual Aliens creative._

Sheila watched with a smile as the listening posts three AAA batteries targetted areas on the carrier and opened fire, pounding the monolith's shields with heavily reinforced DU shells; a deadly weapon if in the wrong hands. _The humans knew how to build weapons. Deadly weapons. Luckily, chemical weapons aren't illegal. _DU shells, or Depleted Uranium shells, were exactly as they sounded. With compound traces of the uranium used to make nuclear weapons, they tipped them with enough DU to melt through armor like phosphorus. The results were terrifying; one round could melt through the hull of a Wolverine APC and the flames would burn for days on end. The side effects were that the vehicles couldn't be approached; the radioactive after effects were like that of a nuked city. If the Tilthan carrier's shields collapsed, it was finished, plain and simple. Not even a Reaper could withstand it; although they tried.

Shields flared, but the tilthan ship had already offloaded its cargo; multiple kodiak and ravager shuttle craft were descending upon them, all loaded with unknown amounts of covenant troops, indoctrinated and not indoctrinated.

"Someone man that gun!" Jupiter ordered and Sheila watched James man one of the two plasma repeaters lining the wall. She had seen them in action too; watched old geth models get torn in half from the sheer heat dissipation. Nasty business.

Her began to pound from the constant 'vavoom vavoom vavoom' of the AAA guns firing, unleashing shell after shell at the carrier to no effect. DUs were only useful against armor, but shields were too powerful. But just as the shields seemed to be bursting, a blinding flash boomed from the vessel's starboard side, followed a sound like the clap of thunder. One AAA tower blew apart in a conglomeration of fire and molten debris as it rained hell over the encampment, wreckage showering all over. She heard an unlucky technician scream as she was burned alive by a piece of the molten wreckage pinning her to the ground.

The other two guns were quickly picked off and that erased any hope of destroying the carrier. Sheila felt a spark of fear appear in her veins as Jupiter ordered her to take position, the quarian crouching behind a barricade, with her rifle lowered over the nearest shuttle she could find. _A simple mission. Then I could go home. I could finally take my boyfriend on a proper date, discuss our relationship. I could talk to mum and help her with knitting. Retire and get a proper job; dad always sad I'd be a good accountant. I never thought I'd die here. I love you mum, dad, sis. I love you Nick. Keelah Se'lai. Keelah Se'lai. Keelah Se'lai. Keelah Se'la-_

"Here they come! Ready your weapons!" Jupiter ordered and they did and Sheila snapped from her haze and focused her gaze down the scope.

The first shuttles landed, but noone stepped out, only a yahg with its omni-tool out and playing on loudspeaker. Its loud booming, mechanical voice echoed over the valley, "Humans! Quarians! Whatever fucking races you have holed up in there! Men and women of the Dominion! You serve false leaders and gods, but we shall amend that! Surrender this garrison and we shall let you live! Might even let you join our ranks! But you must drop your weapons and swear allegiance to the High Holy Covenant!"

_I can see why they're called the Covenant. High Holy? False gods? I don't even worship a god. The ancestors protect me. _Sheila waited for Jupiter's response; the post's commanding officer must have been killed in the attack, leaving Jupiter in command.

The geth's response was quick, "I'll drop my weapons when my unit is worn with rust, you overgrown walking meat sack! All I see before, what my men see, is alot of Covenant to kill. So I will continue to serve my false leaders and false gods, whilst killing you with my false rifle, in my false armor, believing in my false creators."

"Very well!" the yahg yelled back, "We will kill all your men, rape your women, and take your children as slaves! We will enjoy watching you beg for mercy!"

Sheila felt sweat collect at her brow. _I'll die before I let them touch me. No batarian is going to molest me. For the Dominion. In the name of The Shepard. _

Jupiter fired a few shots into the air, "You'll find no easy conquest here! You'll our men yes, but our women will to, and the only mercy our children will beg for is for that on your part, as the Dominion will wreak a righteous wrath upon you all. You should have stayed in your hidey hole, you piece of shit. Tell me, where were the mighty yahg when the Reapers scourged the galaxy? _**Hiding on Parnack it would seem! **_Tell your leaders, 'they can come and take this place!' If you're the leader, well, I think my rifle is middle finger enough! Troopers, fire!"

Sheila smiled and fired, her scope squared over the yahg's head. The first shot buried in his faceplate but stopped at the eye and the second pierced his skull and killed him instantly. Shuttle hatches snapped open and a horde of batarians, turians, tilthans in the bodies of mechs called 'Hosts' and yahg charged the gate, yelling war cries and firing at anything they could see while Jupiter and the main gate defense fired down at them mercilessly.

The plasma repeaters opened fire, cutting swaths down the enemy ranks, but only delaying the enemy advance by a slight margin. Sheila didn't stop; over and over her carbine continued to whine about being overheated, but again and again she fired and fired, taking down as many enemies as she could. She was going to die; better go down with as many kills as possible.

Jupiter's Javelin Mark IV sounded next to her and ripped the head off a tilthan host, leaving it dead. The tilthan hosts looked much like...what was that robot on robocop called? ED-209? Yeah, they looked like that, but much more powerful. Sheila was about to target a batarian heavy at the back when she spotted a vehicle appearing over the horizon; and a shout caught in her throat.

A Wraith Heavy Tank. How the Covenant got their hands on the Dominion vehicle was unknown, but they had, and now it gazed its teeth on them, twin cannons flaring.

Sheila screamed a warning but it was too late. Twin streaks of plasma shot forward with blinding speed and impacted the front of the gate, incinerating everything within five meters. James and Jack, the men manning the plasma repeaters, were reduced to atoms as Sheila watched on. Not much of the garrison survived the blast and those who had began to rout. Jupiter screamed at them to get back into position, Sheila noticing it was firing its sniper rifle one handed; one of its arms having been blasted off.

Sheila felt numb in the legs and looked down and immediately began to hyperventilate and turn pale from what she saw. Her right leg was gone; vaporized to a pulp and leaving only a bloody stump with red blood pooling around it. She realized she was going into shock and wanted to scream, but her voice failed her. Jupiter made its way over to her and pulled the quarian into cover, tying bandages around the bloody stump that used to be her right leg and she realized it was because of her adrenaline that she didn't feel any pain; that and the suddenness of the agony itself.

Covenant forces surged through the gatehouse and she knew it was over; they wouldn't live. She'd die here, or be raped, whichever came first, and she'd never see her family again. Never become an accountant. Never go on another date with her beloved Nick. _Sweet human bosh'tet. If only you were here...I'd tell you how much you mean to me..._

Then another sound caught her ears; a screeching sound like that of a bug. She ignored her leg for a moment and looked at Jupiter, wandering if she had heard wrong or imagined the sound. But she hadn't, because Jupiter was quickly looking at the source; the Covenant shuttles. Its flaps shifted and immediately began to thrust its arm in the air, "Yes! Take that you pieces of scum!"

Unable to hear her, Jupiter couldn't help her up, so she thrust one arm up and gripped the railing, pulling herself up and using her left leg as a support. She looked at where Jupiter was looking and stood shocked, but quite soon, a smile wiped across her face.

The Covenant Wraith had been destroyed and the Covenant forces were in a flurry; they had no idea what was going on. They were disorganized and unable to deal with the sudden threat and they were ripped apart by the Dominion troops.

Sheila and Jupiter watched in smugness as the rachni horde poured over the enemy like they were nothing but a wall to be climbed over, hundreds of the insects finding and tearing Covenant soldiers apart. Brood warriors lead the horde, using their biotics to tear yahg apart and send tilthan hosts flying through the wall. And in the midst of it all; a krogan soldier. A single. Krogan. Soldier.

When the battle was done, the krogan approached the both of them and nodded to them, looking at the destroyed listening post before turning to face Jupiter again, "You the only survivors?"

"That we know of. Who are you? Reinforcements?" Jupiter asked.

"That we are, but not ones you called for. Your orbital stations are gone and fleet decimated. A rachni queen is ready to transport you off world. Let's just say the queen knew the perils you would face and sent me with some of her children to rescue you. She has a cruiser waiting nearby. We'll head for Trebin immediately."

Before the krogan could leave, Jupiter put a hand on his shoulder and turned him around, "You haven't answered my question trooper, who are you?"

The krogan laughed and offered Sheila a hand up, which the quarian eagerly accepted, "Urdnot Mordin, at your service."

Sheila passed out as one of the sons of the great Urdnot Wrex carried her to the evacuation point.

_**A/N:**_

_**Yeah, I bet most of you forgot about Mordin. But I haven't. And yes, I am planning for Jessica's, Thane's and Mordin's story arcs to join together eventually. You may not be interested in this part of the story arc currently, but it will get more interesting as it progresses and I hope, I can only hope, that you'll be completely hooked by the beginning of Holocaust, and that's where the best bits will be saved.**_

_**Stay tuned; 2251 will get uglier.**_

_**And considering all the content in 2251...yeah, I think I'll make a seperate information page for that. You know, for referencing.**_


	6. Chapter 5 Hunter

**REQUIEM**

**CHAPTER FIVE:**

**HUNTER**

_October 13, 2185_

_1231 hours._

_Docking Station 9, Shalta Docks, Shalta Wards, The Citadel._

_Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Councilor David Edward Anderson._

Anderson watched Marcus as the commander lead him through the C-Sec Academy and into the elevator, the glass door behind them quickly shutting and the elevator ascending up to the place the new Normandy was docked at. As it ascended, the human councilor drowned out the news reports playing over the speakers to turn to Marcus, "So Shepard, how was the battle against the collectors? You didn't report much to us since your first visit to the Citadel."

Marcus sighed and allowed a weak smile to cross his face, the spectre straightened his posture and clasped his hands behind his back, "A large and tedious process, Anderson. We didn't even fight the Collectors all that much; it was mostly a long, drawn out process of recruiting the people I needed and doing their personal missions. You could say they're pretty loyal."

"Why's that? I know Garrus, Tali and Kaidan, but the others seem like unknowns to me," Anderson asked a-matter-of-factly.

"I gave them the chance to leave the ship after the destruction of the Collector Base," Marcus declared, turning his head to meet Anderson's eyes, "But they stayed with me. Every single one of them. A few Cerberus crew left, but even my mess sergeant, the engineers, my yeoman...they all told the Illusive Man to get fucked when they didn't leave the Normandy. We're a tightly-knit group now. An unusual one."

Anderson chuckled lightly, "I don't think anyone can claim the Normandy crew as anywhere near normal; especially since you now harbor a geth. Tell me Marcus, do you truly think that was a good idea?"

The man he considered a son gave him a strong gaze, "I trust Legion Anderson; its weird, I know. I barely know it, but I've got this gut feeling in my chest...it was that seem gut feeling that made me defy the Council and seek you out when we were impounded on the Citadel before Saren's attack. The same gut feeling that told me the Reapers were real. The one that told me that I loved-" he cut himself off, "That gut feeling has never let me down Anderson; I've learnt to trust it. And its telling me to trust Legion. That I can trust it. I'm going to follow my gut."

"You've rarely been wrong Mark. And I know you; you wouldn't trust it so easily if you knew it wouldn't betray you. I believe you. Just as I believed you about the Reapers," he sighed. _If only Udina could work that stick out of his ass and do the same. But he'd rather pout and kiss the Council's asses then acknowledge the truth right infront of him. I doubt the Council has even come around...they'll probably find a way to deny everything Shepard's set out._

Then he realized and old mishap and turned to Marcus again, smiling, "Also Marcus, you can just call me David. I think you've earned that much, don't you think?"

The spectre chuckled; that same charming smile. That same smile Hannah, his mother, used to adore. Anderson had always been like a father to Marcus ever since his father died in the First Contact War. The ex-captain knew Marcus was special when he didn't develop a racist attitude towards turians after that. Most kids who lost a father during that period would have turned to Cerberus or the Terra Firma Party, and god help us if those scumbags grew any further. After that, Anderson had supported Marcus' plans to join the marines, trained him himself and was there for him after Akuze and Torfan when his mother couldn't be.

"Sure thing...David," Marcus replied, "Although its going to take some time getting used to."

"Don't blame you. I don't you're crew, or anyone else who knows you, will be able to get over calling you Shepard," Anderson joked, inwardly wondering when the SSV Orizaba would dock with the Citadel. _One hell of a surprise; for both of them. As far as Hannah knows, its just another political meeting. I just hope Udina doesn't turn up; last thing we need is him souring the mood with his lectures and talks of political shit-storms._

The elevator arrived and opened, allowing Marcus to step out, Anderson in tow. When he was fully out in the open, Anderson had to gape at the size of the new Normandy. She wasn't quite the size of a destroyer, but she was pretty damn close. He almost forgot about the Cerberus logo and the colors to accompany it that adorned the hull, in awe of how much bigger the SR-2 was compared to the SR-1.

Noticing he had stopped, Marcus looked at him and smiled, "She big enough for you, Anderson?"

The man laughed, "Be careful Mark; the Alliance brass sees this, they might try to steal it from you."

The spectre let out a low chuckle, jabbing a thumb at his vessel, "They'd have to try really hard. My crew wouldn't give the ship up unless I ordered them to."

"I don't doubt it," Anderson admitted, motioning towards the ship's airlock, "So, Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, are you going to give me a tour of your vessel or not? The outside is very pretty, but I think its the interior I came to see."

Marcus nodded and both of them walked into the frigate's airlock, waiting for the decontamination sequence to run its course before the second airlock door opened and omitted them into the vessel. At first, Anderson didn't really notice anything all that different about the Normandy, but when he stepped onto the cross between the flight deck and the cockpit, his jaw almost dropped when he saw the sheer size of the CIC. _Its huge! Has to be two times as big as the one on the SR-1! _The Galaxy Map table was different as well; the front was occupied by a hologram of the ship itself with a promptable cross-section layout and the galaxy map lay behind it. He was surprised Cerberus even incorporated that into the ship; it was a turian design.

"Hey, Commander. I've got something to-whoa! Captain Anderson!" The councilor turned around and faced the cockpit, smiling as his eyes came to meet those of the familiar and always likable pilot.

"I'm a councilor Joker, remember?" Anderson stated.

The pilot shrugged, grinning like he always did, "You're still the captain I used to remember."

Anderson gave an amused glance in Marcus' direction, "This smartass giving you trouble?"

"He's still prone to bad jokes and sarcasm, if that's what you're asking," Marcus retorted, "And he's still the great pilot he's always been."

Joker feigned offense, "Best, not great, nor good. I'm _the _pilot. Give me the Normandy and I make her dance for you; just don't make me stand up and dance or...well, unless you like the sound of snapping shinbones."

"I'd prefer not to have to page Doctor Chakwas Jeff," an unfamiliar synthetic voice spoke. Anderson tried to find the source but stopped as his eyes landed on a hovering, pawn-shaped blue orb hovering over a pad next to Joker's pilot seat. Had he heard it right? _A VI doesn't 'prefer' to do anything, it does what its programmed to do. Seriously Mark, how many AIs do you have? _

"Another AI Mark? I guess keeping this out of the sight of the Council was a good idea. One AI is bad enough, especially when its a geth, but two AIs?"

"Her name is EDI," Joker introduced her, "And she's not bad. TIM had her installed into the ship when he built the Normandy. Shepard and I didn't trust her at first...but she's alright. She's more than earned my trust...especially when she saved me. She cares about the crew, and I think she's...a friend, not just a computer. She's proven herself trustworthy."

"Saved you?" Anderson asked with confusion, looking at the spectre next to him, "What happened?"

"We were lured to Eden Prime on the pretenses the Collectors would soon abduct the colony. We were hoping to repel them," Marcus told him, looking down at the deck plating, "We learnt too late that it was a trap set up by Harbinger and the Collectors to lure us off the ship so they could abduct the crew. They would have gotten Joker too, but he was forced to unshackle EDI and give her control of the ship. He thought that when he did it; the AI would try and kill him, but instead she activated FTL and saved him and the ship. I've trusted her ever since, as has the rest of the crew. Even Tali doesn't mind her."

"Fair enough. I trust your judgment on the matter, just keep her out of sight. If you want people renovating this ship, you'd better keep your geth and EDI out of sight otherwise they might flip out and it could end badly. And you mentioned a Harbinger. Who's that? Another Reaper?"

"Yes, but not just any Reaper Anderson. It was their leader," Marcus declared.

Anderson grinned widely, "So you blew him up along with the Collectors."

Marcus shook his head sadly, scratching the light stubble on his chin that served as a beard, "No, we didn't. Harbinger wasn't never there; he was controlling the Collectors through the collector general, which in turn was being controlled through a station relay that connected to the Reaper fleet in dark space. He's still out there, as is the other thousands of Reapers waiting to invade, but we know they're coming, and sooner than we'd like. We did blow up that Human-Reaper though; so I guess that counts."

Anderson whistled, looking impressed, "You've killed two Reapers so far Marcus; you've definitely caught their attention."

He nodded, smiling, "Indeed I have; we've probably pissed off every Reaper out there...or impressed them. I don't know Anderson..."

"Yeah, Sovereign seemed to be all about wiping us all out," Joker piped in, gaining both of their attention, "But Harbinger was preaching about ascension, and 'we are your salvation through destruction!' Then some shit about a prophecy and a destiny Shepard had to fullfill. It was real interested in the commander; you'd have to be blind not to see that the Reapers are clearly interested in you Shepard."

"Maybe they percieve as me as such a large threat that they want to try and soften me up and make their cause look justified," Marcus responded, turning to Anderson and motioning down the flight deck, "If so, they'll have a hard time convincing me. I'm not going to sacrifice trillions of lives to the Reapers just because they lectured me about 'my destiny.' Not to mention I've got too many people I care about."

_We all do Shepard. We all do. _With that, Anderson followed Marcus down the flight deck, admiring the new features of the ship as he went by, trying to avoid the gazes of the ex-Cerberus crew. But as he passed them, he heard them snapping salutes or nodding at him as they passed by. _Salutes? I didn't know Cerberus was big on professionalism. Or maybe that's because Shepard's ingrained a sense of military discipline into them. Good._

As they moved through the CIC, they stopped next to the terminal of a red-haired young woman wearing a checkered shirt and jeans. When she saw them, she gave a weak smile and turned to them, snapping a salute for Marcus, "Shepard," she greeted before turning to the councilor and offering him a handshake, "And you must be Councilor Anderson. Its such an honor to meet you, sir."

He nodded and took her hand in his, shaking it firmly, "The honor is all mine, Miss...?"

Her smile growed somewhat bigger, "Chambers, Kelly Chambers. I'm the commander's yeoman. I used to work for the Illusive Man, but I cut loose along with the rest of the crew after the attack on the Collector Base," having greeted Anderson, she turned back to Marcus, "Commander, just so you know, Kasumi and I bought those new uniforms you wanted. The special set you requested are in a box outside your cabin; I got Kasumi to take them up there for you."

"Thank you Kelly," Marcus thanked, patting her on the shoulder, "You okay?"

Her smile dimmed alittle but she perked up to keep up her image, "I'll be fine, commander. Its all over now; I'll get over it. Chakwas has, so has Lia and everyone else. Just me now. The nightmares will end soon; but if you ever need my help, I assure you I will not falter."

"Glad to hear it Kelly," the spectre thanked, giving her one more reassuring before motioning towards a door leading into an area labelled the 'Tech Lab.' Anderson gave Miss Chambers one more passing glance before they stepped through the door and into an empty box of a room where another door waited. He cleared his throat, turning to Marcus as they continued.

"She was...unexpected," Anderson admitted.

Marcus nodded, stopping just before he tapped the holographic interface to open the door into the lab, facing the councilor, "Most of the crew aren't what you expect from Cerberus, David; trust me, I was surprised too. But these are really good people, and they aren't tied to Cerberus anymore, so I trust them. Not with my life, but I trust them. Now, I'd like you to meet Professor Mordin Solus."

He nodded, "You mentioned him in the debrief with the Council. I'm curious to meet him."

Marcus nodded, palming the interface and opening the door, which omitted them into quite a long stretch of room. Technical and scientific equipment was set up all over, along with holographic work stations and numerous other areas assiociated with the virtues of science. And occupying the main work station infront of a observation port, was a salarian in a white labcoat, one of his two horns missing. He seemed to be moving back and forth, one hand touching his chin in thought while his assistant, Anderson guessed; a quarian with a flowing light green veil tightly wrapping her petite form, an aqua blue visor shielding her facial features. She was shorter than Tali, but definitely wasn't an engineer if she was working in here.

"You think scale itch got on Normandy via Cerberus crew. Interesting. Source irrelevant however. Need solution, not hypothesis. Cannot think of that now," the salarian named Mordin Solus rambled to his quarian assistant, who was typing away at a terminal and seemed to be offering him suggestions. Marcus and himself just stood there and watched, waiting to be noticed.

"Yes, but if we can calculate the source of distribution, we can determine not only the point of entry, but also how to successfully combat it. Scale itch is a sexually transmitted disease, and its only communicable by varren, so..."

Mordin took a deep breath, "Implications unpleasant, Miss Vael. However, hypothesis correct. Very good. Determine source, develop countermeasures. Suggestions?"

The quarian nodded eagerly, turning from her terminal, "The first step would be to call in the host and run a check on him/her. Once done, we can run a search on the extranet for similiar cases and see how others treated it. Using their progress, we can develop our own strategy for counteracting the effects of the scale itch."

"Excellent," Mordin complimented about to continue when he finally noticed Marcus and Anderson waiting patiently. The salarian smiled, causing the quarian to turn around and almost jump when she saw them. Instead, she saluted shakily, "Captain Shepard! I didn't see you there; I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize," Marcus replied, deciding to not push the topic of scale itch, something which Anderson was thankful for. But why did the quarian call him captain? A question for later perhaps, "Just wanted to introduce you to Councilor Anderson, a good friend of mine. I'm giving him a tour of the ship."

"Councilor!" the quarian greeted, snapping another salute for the man, "I am Lia'Vael nar Ulnay, a pleasure to meet you! I'm Mordin's assistant!"

"Yes yes, very exciting prospect," Mordin piped up from Lia's side, the salarian now addressing Anderson, "Heard much about you. Largely responsible for saving Citadel. Former N7. Ran for spectre, ruined by Saren Arterius," he held up his three-fingered hands to delay any shocked responses, "Former STG operative; hear alot within office. Retired now, ran clinic on Omega, serve on Normandy ship. Good ship. Good crew. Good commander. Many interesting things. Excellent set up. Enjoy the challenge," the salarian took a deep breath, "Work is relaxing. Stressful work more fun. Sing Gilbert and Sullivan when off duty."

Anderson was overwhelmed by the salarian's hyper talking speed, but he guessed he shouldn't be surprised, since the salarian brain could comprehend things faster than any other living being in existence, "I see Shepard doesn't settle for the average soldier. I've heard much about you myself, Professor Solus. You've made quite a name for yourself in the galaxy; your clinic on Omega among one of them. I heard you cured it."

Mordin gave a cocky smile, "Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong," the salarian turned to Marcus, still smiling, "Much work to do, nice to meet former captain. Scale itch on Normandy. Also, would like to speak privately later. Doctor-patient confidentiality. Pertains to relationship with Miss Zorah." With that, the salarian gave him the salarian equivalent and returned back to his desk, talking to Lia as he did, "Now, focus on scale itch. Could you please ask Crewman Goldstein..."

By the time Mordin started his next lecture with Lia, Marcus was leading Anderson out of the tech lab and out an alternative door, down an unusual corridor. Anderson laughed inside his head. _A salarian and quarian scientist working together to take down a STD transmitted by varren? Shepard attracts the oddest types. _Marcus stopped, opening a door to the left that opened up into a box like room with a single table in the middle, a hologram of the Normandy in the middle. "That's our new debriefing room," Marcus told him, continuing to lead him into an area labelled as the 'Armoury.'

The room was the exact same size as the Tech Lab, except this room lived up to its name in its own way. Weapon's lockers lined the left side of the room and the rest was occupied by benches covered in numerous different types of weaponry; ranging from the standard pistol to even the M-920 Cain. Anderson even saw what he thought to be a geth pulse rifle, along with a geth plasma shotgun, most likely gifts from the geth platform they called 'Legion.' The allocation of the armoury was an obvious design flaw; if anyone boarded the ship and captured the CIC, they'd also immediately capture the armoury, allowing them to secure two vital areas of the ship in a single attack. _Cerberus doesn't understand military operations as well as they think they do._

Taking another look of the room, he began to just see the extent of the damage done on the ship. Some of the terminals in the CIC didn't seem to work, there had been multiple holes in the ceiling of the flight deck, a collapsed beam and a flickering light at the back of the Tech Lab and the Armoury had cracked glass observation window over looking what he assumed to the drive core and a beam that had crushed one of the benches. The debriefing room was the worst effected; wires hung from the ceiling and a collapsed beam had once barred the entrance.

"Councilor Anderson? A pleasure sir!" he heard an african-american accent sound from across the room. He turned to see a man with similiar dark-colored skin, snapping a salute in what looked to be a Cerberus uniform, but with the Cerberus insignias now missing, obviously ripped off as a symbol of how he'd abandoned Cerberus and the Illusive Man. He held a salute and as Anderson turned, he saw he wasn't alone, with another quarian, this one a male, and Kaidan, both holding salutes. Anderson smiled, "At ease. I'm not military anymore, soldiers."

"You're not a politician either sir," Kaidan stated, dropping his hand as the others quickly did, "Shepard's the best soldier I've seen, but you'll always be a captain to me sir. A pity you couldn't be with us when we took the fight to the Collectors. We really showed them not to mess with humanity."

"I'm sure you did, but I'm afraid my days as an N7 are definitely over," Anderson replied, looking at the two men who's names he didn't know, "And what are your names troopers?"

"Second Lieutenant Jacob Taylor sir. I once worked with the Alliance corsairs before I joined Cerberus. Don't worry though, I've devoted my loyalty solely to Shepard now," Jacob told him, cracking his knuckles, "He knows what's right and the Illusive Man clearly doesn't. I prefer to follow men with morals, not men with hidden goals set to screw you over."

"Glad you see that way Second Lieutenant Taylor," Anderson replied, shaking the man's hand with a firm grip, turning to the quarian, "And you are?"

The quarian snapped a second salute. From what Anderson saw of him, he wore a red, tightly knit veil and had a strong muscular posture. His mask was dark black and he carried himself with the authority of a commander, "Major General Kal'Reegar vas Normandy, Migrant Fleet Marines, sir."

Anderson raised an eyebrow, "Major General?" He turns to Marcus with a grin, "It would seem he outranks you, Commander."

Kal shook his head, "A captain's authority supercedes mine on a ship. He commands the ship and the team, and he's definitely a better soldier than me, so I'll follow him no matter the rank anyway. I've seen noone who can fight like the commander."

"Whats with the quarians and calling you captain?" Anderson asked incredulously, "You're still a commander, are you not?"

"I am, but its a quarian thing. Anyone who commands a ship is a captain to them. Its more of a title than it is a rank. A term of respect," Marcus taught him.

Anderson creased his mouth in impression, "You must have really done alot for them if they're calling you a captain. Well, I'm sure you've got more of the ship to show me. Shall we?"

"Right this way sir," and with that, Marcus lead Anderson out of the armoury and into the elevator. If the councilor thought he'd seen the oddest of the Shepard crew, he obviously hadn't been paying attention.

**{Loading...}**

_October 15, 2185_

_1300 hours._

_Captain's Quarters, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, Docked with the Citadel._

_Commander Marcus Lee Shepard._

Marcus growled in frustration as he once again looked at himself in the mirror in the shower cubicle of his cabin once more, noticing again that one of the buttons of his dress uniform had come undone again. With growing annoyance, he undid all the buttons and contemplated simply taking the chaffing outfit off and going in his hoodie. Damn what the admirals thought. _No, I have to look professional. I have to show them the level of respect they deserve._

_Respect? Like how they respected you when they just gave up on you, smeared you as a raving lunatic and swept the Reaper threat under the rug? They were probably colloborating with the Council, just waiting for me to die so they could just forget about the whole threat all together. The Alliance abandoned you, why should you show them any respect?_

Marcus shook away those thoughts, not allowing them to corrupt his state of mind. _That's just childish. And what about Anderson? He didn't abandon me; the Alliance told him I was dead and he probably didn't have any proof to refute them. And for all intents and purposes, I __**was **__dead. Doesn't justify them lying about dealing with the Reapers, but it did somewhat clear them alittle. I have to be professional! If I want these people to work with me, I have to show them the respect their due. I cannot fuck this up._

He sighed as he moved back to the source of his frustration; those damnable buttons. He had recently had a shower, combed his hair back and made sure to shave alittle before putting on the alliance naval uniform provided to him by Anderson yesterday. His Commander's bars were pinned on the left breast and his Star of Terra on his right. Marcus had originally had his old Lieutenant Commander's bars from two years ago, but they were lost along with the SR-1. The uniform was official, but god did it seem to choke him, almost as if it was trying to squeeze the life out of him. _I feel like a scarecrow in this piece of shit. How do admirals get around in these things? How does Anderson?_

This was it; the important meeting cross alliance debrief. He wasn't rejoining the Alliance, for all purposes, he was now a spectre, and this was a spectre ship, the Council had sure it was recognized as that. The Council had even split the funds with the Alliance when Anderson finally convinced Hackett to fund repairs for the Normandy, which numbered in the hundreds of millions, including the new paintjob and additional stuff. But there was one more thing he wanted built into the Normandy that wasn't needed, but would be a special surprise.

He would speak with the Alliance Joint Command about attacking Walker Station, along with efforts to convince the Arcturus Parliament to increase funds towards military production of weapons, warships; solely dreadnoughts, and many other things. The Council was still in talks about the dreadnought production; the Treaty of Farixen limited the amount of dreadnoughts any one species could have, but they would have to look past that if they wanted to beat the Reapers. A treaty wasn't going to stop them, warships would. The time to act was now, and Marcus would play a decisive role in it. He had one shot, and he couldn't mess it up.

He didn't even hear the cubicle door open as he focused on the buttons on his shirt. But he quickly took notice when two slender arms ending in small, three-fingered hands, wrapped around his waist and a warm body pressed into him from behind him. He smiled, turning away from the shirt, and holding Tali's arms, looking into the mirror and watching as the quarian lay her head on his shoulder, biolumiscent eyes meeting his in the frame of the mirror. No communication was needed; they simply stood there, holding each other. He arched his back into her, allowing himself to melt into her grip.

After a few minutes of silence, she sighed and appeared to smile behind her purple mask, "Nice uniform; you look very...handsome in it."

"I'm not feeling it," Marcus replied with a sigh, "Bloody thing feels like a choke hold on my entire body."

Tali giggled, letting go of him and looking at him further in the mirror, "I heard you growling in here; angry with something?"

"These damn buttons keep coming undone," Marcus told her, fumbling at the works of the devil, "I swear they were made to make people go insane."

"Turn around," she ordered and he did so, turning fully to face her. He smiled and watched as she reached up, grabbed at one of the buttons and began doing them up for him, "I was only up here to grab something, but I guess I could help you with your button crisis."

"I don't sound that fussy, do I?" Marcus asked, unable to believe the words coming from her mouth. _Button crisis? Not something an intelligent mind expects to say. _He watched as she continued to systematically do up all the buttons for him, smiling at his question.

"If buttons can make you go insane Marcus, I don't want to know what sends the Reapers insane," not waiting for an answer, she finished for him and straightened out his uniform, patting out any creases. For a moment afterwards, they both just stood there, looking at each other. After a moment or so, he leaned forward, resting his forehead against her visor and just sighing, closing his eyes. He expected she did as well.

"This entire meeting rests on me Tali," he finally spoke up over the peaceful silence, "If I screw this up..."

Tali wasn't having any of it, "You won't. I've seen your speeches Marcus, the way you talk to people, how you inspire them, how you gain loyalty through simple words. You have a gift that's rare among others, _yol'tiya. _You are not only unstoppable on the battlefield, a brilliant charismatic individual, but you are also a skilled speaker who inspires loyalty in ways others couldn't imagine. You are also good at wooing women, I'll give you that."

Marcus chuckled out loud and shook his head, "And what sort of women are we talking about?"

Tali blushed behind her mask, burying it into his neck, "No one in particular..."

He sighed, opening his eyes and using both hands to stroke the sides of her helmet, "Thanks Tali; I don't know what I'd do with myself if you weren't here. I feel like I'm just another soldier when you're not around; you're the one thing that keeps me going. Thank you."

"Whenever you need me," Tali promised, earning herself a kiss on the hood, which she reciprocated by tapping her mask on his forehead. With a cheeky grin, she leaned forward, swaying her hips seductively, and whispered in his ear, "You know...I'm not sick anymore, and if you'd rather release some stress..."

He immediately goosebumps on his skin at the whisper of her voice and the warmth radiating off her body. His heartbeat increased and he felt himself wrapping his arms around her and returning her smile, "How would you suggest doing so?"

"By giving you some motivation," Tali told him, hand sliding down the front of his pants and finding her target, beginning to squeeze and rub that area, stroking it as much as she dared, all the while looking at him. It wasn't long before Marcus was fully erect and before he could move in, she slid out from under him and rushed out the door, laughing as she did. Marcus just stood there, shock on his face, a buldge in his pants. He went to follow her, but she was already running out the door, waving sarcastically at him as she went past, door closing behind her.

"You're evil woman," he scoffed, turning back to the mirror and checking over himself once more, deciding to stay put until his erection died off, not wanting the whole CIC to see him in that undignified state. _I'll get back at her. She wants to play? Okay, we'll play. _When he got back, he'd research ways to tap into quarian suit systems. He knew just what he wanted to do, and how to do it. With a sigh, having been satisfied with how he looked and his manhood going limp, he left the cabin and entered the elevator, hitting the button for the CIC deck.

Once down, he quickly made his way down the CIC and up the flight deck, reciprocating each salute the crew gave him as he went past, stopping at the cockpit. EDI popped up on the holopad right next to him on record time, "A skycar is awaiting you outside commander. Garrus insisted he come as a bodyguard, saying he doesn't want to take any chances with Cerberus chasing you, especially due to your current predicament."

"I can look after myself, but I appreciate the backup," Marcus told the AI and she flickered out of existence, appearing again next to Joker's console. The spectre immediately noticed the large grin plastered on Joker's face, and sighed.

"Damn commander," Joker whistled, "You lookin like a true soldier. With tha blue collar, and commander's bars, and that chaffing look..."

"Joker."

"...but I bet all the women are going to be all over you in that suit, especially..."

"_Joker._"

"...can't resist can you Shepard? But don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to..."

"JOKER!"

"What, what is it?" Joker asked, grin still on his face and obviously enjoying his commander's new uncomfortable position, "Don't worry Shepard, your secret is safe with-"

Suddenly, his chair turned back around, cutting him off mid sentence and facing the main console. Joker lost his mirth and tried to turn his chair around, but found that he couldn't. Seeing as the culprit was obvious, Marcus smirked and looked at EDI's console, nodding, "Thanks EDI."

"_**I am the harbinger of your ascension. Joker will be my slave**_," EDI responded.

They both went silent and Joker and Marcus simply looked at EDI with horrified glances. After a few awkward moments, EDI spoke up again, "That was a joke."

"Christ EDI!" Joker let out a breath, not knowing he had held it in, "Don't scare us like that! I think I almost pissed myself!"

"At least she's learning from the best," before Joker could retort that, Marcus was out of the cockpit and in the airlock, waiting for the decontamination unit to run its course. Once it was done, he moved out onto the docks and moved over to the skycar where Garrus was waiting...

But it wasn't just Garrus waiting; the turian was in full armor and had his mattock rifle on his back, but Grunt was also with him, along with Thane. He approached the car, shaking his head as the trio noticed him and Garrus' mandibles flexed into the grin.

"EDI told me you were coming Garrus, but you brought Grunt and Thane as well? Don't you think that's a bit obsessive?" Marcus asked, but just before he finished speaking, he heard the familiar sound of feet behind him. He rolled his eyes and looked at Garrus again, "You brought Kasumi too? What are you planning for, an assault?"

Kasumi uncloaked beside him, crossing her arms and leaning against the car while pouting, "You still owe me an explanation of how you do that."

Garrus lost his grin and placed a taloned hand on one of his shoulders, "Cerberus are unpredictable bastards, Shepard. You yourself should know that underestimating them is a bad idea; we can't take any chances, especially with the entire alliance admiralty gathered. We're your bodyguard, and there's nothing you can say that can make me leave. I know Tali would probably do anything to protect you, but...well...I don't think she needs to know."

"Agreed," Marcus told the turian, motioning into the skycar, "Shall we?"

The ride to the Human Embassy, where the meeting would take place, was boring and pretty uneventful. Marcus sat in the driver's seat, guiding the vehicle through the cityscape. Grunt sat silently, as did Thane who was in silent meditation, whilst Kasumi and Garrus gave back and forth banter between one other like some kind of old married couple. _For all I know, they could actually be in a relationship, but lets not jump to conclusions._

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the skycar arrived outside the Citadel Embassies and they all marched out of the vehicle, Marcus leading the way in his alliance uniform with Garrus leading his praetorian guard behind him. Garrus had his mattock heavy rifle, Grunt his claymore heavy shotgun, Thane his phalanx heavy pistol and Kasumi her Locust SMG, which she had taken from Hock's vault when they raided it a...month ago? God, he couldn't even remember.

Apparently they needn't had bothered; alliance marines patrolled the area and when Marcus went past them and approached the entrance to the human embassy, he was surprised to see a full squad of N7 operatives guarding the entrance, all dressed up in red and white N7 armor, helmets on and N7 weapons at their hips or in lower parry.

As his team approached the entrance, one N7, a woman by the looks of it, raised a hand and stopped him, "Who are you and what's your business here?"

_I thought my uniform would have told you. _"I'm Commander Shepard, I'm here for the meeting, trooper. Surprised to see some fellow N7s here."

"Security. Brass is paranoid, especially after you dumped Cerberus. They're convinced Cerberus will do anything to kill you now, including the death of your former superiors. Good to know you're making us proud sir," the woman replied, raising her omni-tool to do a scan of him. Once done, she deactivated her omni-tool and looked at him, "I see no weapons on you, but I'm afraid your friends here are going to have to stay here."

Marcus jabbed a thumb behind him to indicate his team, "These guys? They're here for the same reason you are. They'll stay out here and help with security. I hope you don't mind."

The N7 seemed to eye Grunt with weariness but finally broke off her gaze to look back at her fellow N7, "That's fine with me, sir. My team are more than willing to cooperate."

"I'm going in with the commander," Garrus declared just before he entered. Marcus stopped and turned to the turian, but the N7 commander had already first.

"I'm sorry sir, but orders are orders. No one is allowed in there accept the brass and Shepard. The contents of that meeting are not for your ears. Please back away."

"For an N7, you should know the necessities of having a guard in the actual conference room," Garrus told him, pointing inside, "If Cerberus launches an attack, they won't brute force their way through, they'll make sure to neatralize any threats first. They'll most likely lock this door and then deploy troops through vents. They'll sneak inside, kill the brass and by the time you open that door, they'll all be gone. Now, if I were in there, I might be able to protect them."

Marcus smiled at the turian's thinking, turning to the N7 who contemplated the turian's words, "Hard to argue with a turian on strategy, soldier. Let him through and I'll make sure I take full responsibility."

"Very well sir," the N7 replied, snapping a salute.

"You honor your uniform, soldier. Keep up the good work," and with that, Marcus went inside, Garrus in tow. And, to his knowledge, Kasumi had as well, her cloak at work once again. She would most likely stay in cloak for the majority of the meeting, until of course Cerberus attacked, or if they ever attacked.

Garrus took Kasumi and they quickly retreated to the back of the room, to many of the admiral's suspicion. One admiral; Fleet Admiral Kastanie Drescher of the Second Fleet objected in her thick german accent, standing from her seat, "What is a turian doing in here? I thought security was informed to keep them out!"

"I'll take responsibility," Marcus dictated, taking a vacant seat at the end of the table next to Anderson, "I'll save you the details; but trust me, having Garrus in here is more beneficial to security then you know. If Cerberus ever attacked, or any other hostile party, Garrus could protect us better than a team outside could."

Drescher wasn't convinced, "I've barely known you Shepard, but I'm already not very impressed. You can't just let a _turian _in here! He could feed this information to the turian hierarchy! We can't sensitive military information fall into the hands of those dinos! We should-"

Another, more gruff and tired voice interrupted the admiral, "Oh, for the love of everyone in this room, please stop your whining Drescher and sit down. That turian is Garrus Vakarian, the very man who saved this god forsaken station two years ago. His loyalty is with Shepard and he has no record of ever serving in the turian military for more than the compulsory conscription he was given. He has no contacts in the hierarchy except his father, and Hierarch Vakarian hasn't been in contact with him for years. Its your paranoia that's allowed Terra Firma to spread its weeds, Drescher. Now sit down, shut up, and listen, and you might just learn something."

He quickly learned that the tired old voice came from none other than Fleet Admiral of the Navy Joseph Garrong himself. He was of canadian descent, guessing by the accent, and didn't wear the navy blue cap most alliance navy officials wore while on official duty. He had a thick beard that was so long, that it looked like it hadn't been shaved in months. It was prickly and used to be a rich chestnut color, but was now tethered with occasional bursts of white. His hair had once been the same color, and he wore a thick, bushy moustache that reminded him of General Robert E. Lee from the American Civil War.

Marcus examined the room and basically every admiral by name; Fleet Admiral Adina Netanyahu of the First Fleet, Israeli descent, and in charge of the defense of Arcturus Station, the seat of the Systems Alliance Parliament. It also guards the Charon/Sol Relay and the Sol System in general. She was a beautiful young woman who had acellerated in the ranks faster than any other known admiral due to her natural ability to lead. She was a brunette, with supple cheeks, blue eyes and a small nose. She held herself with an air of authority, but seemed to be the least hardass of the admiralty.

Kastanie Drescher of the Second Fleet, German descent, and in charge of the defense of the colony of Elysium. Her fleet's most notable achievements were the liberation of Shanxi from turian occupation during the final days of the First Contact War. Since then, Drescher herself had always had a huge distrust for turians, and aliens in general. She was far older than Adina, nearing sixty. She had auburn hair and looked surprisingly attractive for a woman of her age, but had a large scar across her cheek from an unknown wound. Her personality was obvious.

Nitesh Singh of the Third Fleet, Indian descent, and in charge of sharing the defense of Arcturus Station with First Fleet, but largely maintaining it due to Adina's fleet's dual defense roles. He had a thick indian accent and was largely dark-skinned, with long, brown hair tied up in a ponytail behind his cap. He mostly kept to himself and didn't seem highly opinionated, mostly keeping quiet until his suggestion on something was needed.

Viktoriya Arefyev of the Fourth Fleet, Russian descent, and was most likely a reserve fleet that hung around Jump Zero, but now had donated a few ships to the New Citadel Defense Fleet. She was highly one-sided, was almost always throat-to-throat with Drescher and was a supporter of the Alliance Communist Party. Word was that she had married a turian, which was one of the reasons Drescher disliked her. She had light skin and crimson hair that she rarely ever tied up.

He knew Hackett of the Fifth Fleet and was good friends with him; he was largely seriousness, had white hair and a heavy white stubble on his chin, and had eyes that commanded respect. The man was by far the most famous of the nine admirals in the room, and not just because his fleet helped destroy Sovereign and save the Citadel.

Osamu Nakamura of the Sixth Fleet, Japanese descent, was largely unimpressive. He was highly imperialistic, to be sure, but he was largely infamous for leading a fleet better than he did at political meetings. That was about as much as he knew of the man. He had no hair that Marcus could see and his face was a wrinkled mess.

Chang Teoh of the Seventh Fleet, Chinese descent, was highly subjugative and Marcus swore he could have been a Cerberus supporter in his past life. His own xenophobia was bounds above Drescher and it even got to the point where Chang had to be ordered to step down after he cried for a war against the Council. Chang didn't meet Marcus' eyes or even acknowledge his presence, and he understood why.

Duncan Ward of the Eighth Fleet, British descent, was something different. He wasn't neutral, narrow-minded, xenophobic, or even that charismatic. He had a dull history, with a dull voice and a dull opinion. Even his name was dull. The man had no close friends to speak of, no wife, no children and certainly noone who respected him. He was just another ordinary man. Even his face was relatively ordinary; brown eyes, smooth ears, wrinkled cheeks and a neat double chin above his neck.

The entire alliance admiralty; sitting before him. Now he just had to hope that they'd listen.

Joseph Garrong, who sat at the head of the table, as was his position as supreme commander of the Alliance Navy, started the meeting, his eyes meeting Marcus', "We've been called here to deal with a threat thought long dead two years ago. The Council had dumped the idea..."

"And for a good reason," Viktoriya added.

Joseph seemingly ignored her and continued, "...due to lack of proof, but it would seem proof has been provided. The Reapers do indeed exist and are coming. Councilor Anderson called this meeting of the admiralty to discuss plans on how to deal with this incoming threat."

"Shepard is our best source of information on how to fight the Reapers. He's fought them; his ship destroyed one, and he destroyed another recently. A Human-Reaper. A threat created because the Alliance decided to ignore our colonies in the Traverse and the Terminus. We allowed that abomination to be created," Anderson chastised.

"We did our best to defend our colonies!" Chang objected, "We even sent Staff Commander Alenko to oversee one of those operations on Horizon. We knew Cerberus was behind those attacks."

"It was the Collectors actually, which is why you're defenses on Horizon barely even fazed them," Marcus intervened, "Matters nill now anyway. I took a team beyond the Omega 4 Relay and wiped out the Collectors and their base at the source, taking their abomination with it. They are no longer a threat and we should focus on the real threat; the Reapers."

"I'm still not convinced these things even exist," Drescher interrupted, "Could be an elaborate hoax to find an excuse for war. The Council sees us violating the treaty, and they have an excuse to go to war with us."

"Come on Drescher, even you're smart enough to know bullshit when you here it," Adina spat, "If the Council wanted to go to war with us, they would. They don't no excuses. The whole galaxy barely trusts our species as it is; that's all the fuel they need. This Reaper threat is real, especially if the Council has finally admitted it. Stubborn bastards denied it for a whole two years."

"We can worry about that when we get to it," Marcus stated, leaning forward, "I wanted to talk about keeping Cerberus checked."

"We've heard of this plan," Hackett replied, "How exactly do you want this play out, commander?"

"Quite simple; I know the location of one of their drydocks and will forward the coordinates to you. Attack the facility and use the information in its databanks to keep Cerberus checked by securing all the facilities you can find. Eventually, that'll force the Illusive Man to get in line and we'll have Cerberus on our side when the Reapers finally arrive."

"You want us to ally with Cerberus?" Adina asked incredulously, turning in her seat swiftly, "Are you serious?"

"Allies, not friends admiral," Anderson responded on his behalf.

Marcus nodded, "Cerberus knows what we're facing; the Reapers are a threat to everything we know. They know that they'll have to put aside their differences and prejudices if they want to beat them. They'll have no choice but to join forces with us. The Illusive Man is a stubborn man and loves doing things his way, but if we check all his facilities, he'll have no chance but to conform to stop losing more of his resources. While that happens; I will travel to the Migrant Fleet to begin talks on an alliance."

"The Migrant Fleet," Chang scoffed, "You want us to ally ourselves with suit-rats? What use are they anyway? They're ships would fall apart and their ships flee like cowards before the Reaper ships even meet their's in combat."

"That attitude will get you harvested admiral, so I suggest you keep your narrow oesophagus shut before I close it myself," Marcus hissed before regaining his professionalism, "The quarians have the largest fleet in the galaxy and they know AIs better than any of us; having them on our side will be essential to any war effort we make. Their ships maybe old, but they can put a fight, no doubt about that," he stopped for a second, thinking over his next few words. _This is it. Its all or nothing, _"...but that's where it gets difficult. A friend of mine, Legion, is going to help me get into contact with the geth to broker a-"

Osamu moved forward, eyes widened, as did everyone else. Joseph showed a second of mild surprise, but quickly hid it. Osamu yelled his incredulousism, "The _geth!? _Are you insane? Those synthetic monstrosities work with the Reapers, according to your reports! That and they only want the destruction of all organic life! The Eden Prime War proved that!"

"That's where you're wrong admirals," Anderson stated, giving an opening for Marcus to continue, which he did.

He explained to them about the Heretics, and how the true geth want to stop the Reapers just as much as anyone else, and he told them about everything else Legion had told him. After a bit, he let them process this new information before Adina spoke up, "How can we trust this geth? And if we could, how the hell will you get the quarians and the geth to work together? You've built a career on performing the impossible, but there's a difference between impossible and _impossible."_

Marcus smiled, "I died admiral; hard to imagine anything else stopping me. The quarians and the geth will have to work together; and if I can do that, then securing the Terminus systems with Aria T'Loak's support will be cake. The batarians will be much harder, as will the vorcha, but we'll get to that when the time comes. However, getting the quarians and the geth to work together is key."

"How do you plan to get the quarians working with the geth and vice versa?" Garrong asked, "It won't be a walk in the park."

"By offering something the quarians can't refuse," Marcus stated, "Rannoch."

Joseph gave him a raised brow, "Rannoch? What's that?"

"The quarian homeworld, admiral," the spectre responded, "For three hundred years they have travelled the stars, and I'm going to put a stop to that. I'm going to go to the Migrant Fleet, communicate with the geth and offer peace terms. If the quarians cease all hostilities towards the geth and all experiments on them ceased, the geth will give the Perseus Veil back to the quarians. If the geth don't attack the quarians, then...well, the alliance will be sealed. The quarians will have a place to house their non-combatants and a place to build up their fleet in tandem with the geth. This development will also leave a blank spot in the Reaper's intelligence; when Sovereign was alive, the geth served it and the Migrant Fleet still travelled the stars. They will not expect quarian-geth alliance. We can use that against them."

"What about the krogan?" Duncan Ward finally asked.

"I have a close friend, a man I consider a brother, who is uniting the krogan clans on Tuchanka and consolidating their manpower. He's been doing this since after I died," Marcus declared, "His name is Urdnot Wrex, and he was part of my crew two years ago. I consider him brother and he'd never betray me. I'm confident that we'll have the krogan underwing. Getting them to work in tandem with the turians and salarians will be beyond difficult, but I think we'll manage it. Unfortunately, that makes my next suggestion all the more difficult. The krogan can't build their numbers fast enough and if war comes, the Reapers will most likely devastate them, probably wipe them out. We need a genophage cure."

"That's for the Council to figure out," Joseph piped in, "The Alliance has no voice in politics that deal with events that happened thousands of years ago. If you ask me, getting a genophage cure will be harder than convincing the quarians and geth to work together, but if anyone can do it, its you. Now, shall we discuss the topic of why we're really here?"

Marcus nodded and the meeting got into full swing.

He just hoped they would listen.

**{Loading...}**

_October 15, 2185_

_1300 hours._

_Citadel Embassies Courtyard, Citadel Embassies, Presidium, The Citadel._

_Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Gunnery Master Garrus Vakarian, Soldier Urdnot Grunt, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Assassin Thane Krios, Councilor David Edward Anderson._

_Those fucking idiots!_

The meeting had been a total disaster. Marcus just couldn't remember where it all went wrong, but it had, and the admirals had gotten into arguments and conflicting opnions clashed and eventually Joseph had called for total silence. Eventually, Udina had come in to report that the Council had discussed the Human-Reaper findings, but had found little to no evidence to prove anything that the commander said was right. It was happening all over again; the Council had swept him under the rug, the Alliance Parliament abandoned him, and the alliance itself. Now the Reapers were coming, and not even the Council or the Alliance would help.

He had stormed out of the embassy in a fit of rage, ignoring the greeting of the N7 woman from before and his team following close behind, Anderson quickly running to catch up. Hackett had followed too, as he was the only admiral who actually believed in the truth of the Reapers and, if he were Fleet Admiral of the Navy, would have taken action already.

If it wasn't for that stubborn Prime Minister and his flock of hens he calls a parliament...

"I'm sorry Shepard," Anderson apologized, "I should have known things would go down hill like that. I'm pissed off the Council excluded me from their joint meeting, but there's nothing I can do about it."

Marcus stopped and Hackett finally caught up, the grizzled old man standing next to Anderson as Marcus spoke, "I can't believe them! After all the proof I've given them, they still don't believe me! The Reapers are coming, and we are less mobilized then were during the Eden Prime War! And its all because of these fucking ignorant council assholes! Sparatus, Tevos, Valern, all three of them!"

"I understand you're pissed Shepard, but there's nothing that can be done," Hackett piped in, "Sparatus actually wanted to arrest you on grounds that you were becoming alot like Saren, but apparently Tevos and Valern disagreed with him, luckily. There's nothing I can do that could convince Garrong otherwise. But just so you know, when the Reapers do arrive, my fleet is yours. Good luck, Shepard," with that, Hackett snapped a salute and left, most likely going to take a shuttle back to his flagship, the SSV McKinley.

Marcus sighed heavily as he wiped his brow, sagging in defeat. _I was so close. I thought I had them, then some last minute political bullshit takes it away. I fucking hate democracy sometimes. We could have made a force so powerful, we'd destroy the Reapers, but in a couple of moments, its all taken away. I have no choice; I can't just give up now, there's too much to fight for to let some politicians doom us to extinction. Maybe if I succeed in getting the quarians and the geth to work together, I can convince the Alliance to reconsider. _

Anderson placed a hand on the man's shoulder, causing Marcus to look up. The man shook his head, "You may not have gotten their help in fighting the Reapers, but they at least agreed to check Cerberus, even if their reasons are different. They will attack Walker Station."

"Yeah, a phyrric victory at best," Marcus replied, before standing up straighter, "Its not over Anderson. Its far from it. I'm still going to contact the quarians and make that alliance. It just means the Alliance and the Council won't build their fleets until its too late. A matter of fact, I'll have to ignore the Council and appeal directly to their governments; the hierarchy, the republics and the union. It'll be a slower process, but it needs to be done."

"I know you'll do your best Marcus. We're all depending on you, even if the brass doesn't realize it," Anderson told him, squeezing his shoulder, "If you need my help, you tell me. I don't care what Udina or the Council say. Damn them. I'll help you in whatever capacity I can. I should probably get in contact with a friend of mine and let her know what you're up to. Maybe she can help you."

"Who is this contact of yours?" Marcus asked, curiosity peaked a little.

"A close friend of mine. I told you about her not too long ago; she was the main reason I hit that refinery with Saren all those years ago," Anderson told him, "Her name is Kahlee Sanders. She works at Grissom Academy, but I'm sure she can use her resources to help you."

"Thank you Anderson. You keep doing humanity proud," Marcus snapped the councilor a final salute before turning to leave and head for the skycar parked nearby, hoping to get back to the Normandy as soon as possible. The Council would most likely have rescinded the funds to complete the Normandy's repairs, meaning they were back on square one. So where could they go to finish the repairs?

The answer was instant. He knew just the person who acquire the funds, and the place that had the space docks to do it.

They were going back to Illium.

As he approached the skycar, he heard someone shout from across the courtyard and he froze, easily remembering the voice. He turned and saw an alliance captain, female, moving towards him, her officer's cap on and white hair tied up in a ponytail. He looked at the captain of the SSV Orizaba, his mother, Hannah Shepard.

"Mum-"

He was rewarded with a massive slap to the face, causing him to reel backwards into the skycar and Grunt and Garrus to barely stiffle a laugh. Hannah shot them down with a glare and focused her attention on Marcus, who was trying to ignore the sting on his face.

"**Where the **_**fuck **_**have you been!?**"

**{Loading...}**

_October 15, 2185_

_1324 hours._

_Crew's Quarters, Mediator-Class Heavy Tanker QMFV Huzzi, Migrant Fleet, Utopia System, Exodus Cluster._

_Mechanic Peta'Yala vas Huzzi._

Peta'Yala vas Huzzi was sweating profusely as the overhead heat burned down on him and through the vent he currently occupied, making him uncomfortable as his suit's systems attempted to adapt. He checked his omni-tool's readings and determined that the source of the leak had been a faulty power conduit; one he had just repaired. With a satisfied sigh, Peta pulled himself out of the vent, deactivating his omni-tool in the process as he slid out and stood back up.

"How was it? Did you fix it?" asked Chief Engineer Veloa'Gerrel vas Huzzi.

Peta nodded, gesturing towards the ship's not-too-impressive drive core, "Shouldn't have any more problems. If you do, just tell me and I'll fix it. Got nothing else to do on this ship."

"Yeah, I feel sorry for you," Veloa thanked him, patting him on the shoulder before he turned back to his console and got back to work on the readouts, leaving Peta alone with his thoughts. With a sigh, he clenched his fists and opened them again, quickly leaving the room and heading for the crew's quarters. Once he found them, he located his bunk and leapt into it, lying down, hands folded on his chest and simply looking blankly up at the ceiling.

_Its been a while. I haven't heard a thing about her. Should I try my luck with admiralcy? They're still voting; can't believe they actually put Tali forward as a potential candidate. She's an engineer, not an admiral! She isn't fit for leadership! She won't likely win anyway. And once I'm chief admiral, she'll have no choice but to accept my orders or be exiled. She won't risk exile, so she'll come. Even her precious Shepard couldn't stop her from doing that, or convince her otherwise. She's as good as mine. I can just taste her lips right now..._

He badly tried to imagine her face, but couldn't. He knew his own face like he knew the crew compliment of the ship escorting them. So how could he imagine what Tali's face looks like? _I want to. I want to imagine her lips on mine; how her skin would taste. What her moan would sound like. How it'd feel to be inside her..._

Okay, now his thoughts were just getting perverted. _This is probably why she doesn't like me; always coming out like I'm some kind of perv. I love her, not just for her body but for...her. I'll do anything for her, and I'll do anything to __**get**__ her. _He had the Shadow Broker on his side, and with the most powerful information broker in the galaxy aiding him, there was nowhere Shepard and Tali could run and he couldn't find them. At first, he thought the Shadow Broker would want something in return, but he just said 'I'll find something' and just started helping. _There's always a catch. Of course, I did do him the favor of setting up that trap on Eden Prime. The Collectors would take the crew, and the Shadow Broker's mercs would capture Shepard and his team. Obviously didn't work, but I'm not stopping there. She will be mine._

Suddenly, his omni-tool began to beep with an incoming call. He frowned behind his mask, wondering how they could already want him to fix something again. But when he saw that it was an anonymous source, and checked the registry, he found it was the Shadow Broker calling him. With a frown, he opened the omni-tool and connected the call, a static filled screen occupying the screen. At first he thought the connection was faulty, but then a voice spoke.

"Mister Yala," the Shadow Broker greeted, "I have an update on Miss Zorah."

Peta wiped the surprise from his face as he straightened up and looked intently at the screen, "What is it? Have you found her?"

"That and I know where she is going," the Broker declared, "She is currently on the Citadel. To my unfortunate discovery, they had recently returned from wiping out the Collectors and their base, as one of my agents informed me. However, I heard from another agent that Shepard is making plans to leave for the Migrant Fleet to begin negoitations with the quarians to build an army to fight the Reapers. I thought you'd like to know, as this is your chance to make another move."

Peta smiled evilly, "That's good to hear."

"I require one favor from you however," the Broker stated, "It benefits both of us, this favor. It will acquire you Tali'Zorah, while also eliminating a threat."

"Whatever you need," Peta told him eagerly.

"Shepard is an enemy of ours, you and I know this. He has stolen the love of the one you care about the most away from you and left you empty. Shepard has also disrupted my own operations, causing havoc for my agents and denying me important intel that has damaged my business over the course of many months, even years. We both need him dealt with. So, in your interests and mine, Shepard must be removed as a threat..."

"...he must be eliminated. When he reaches the fleet, get him alone, unarmed and unaware, and then kill him. Discreetly of course; we don't need people finding out you're behind it, do we? With Shepard out of the way, Tali'Zorah will envitably fall into a fit of grief, and who better to soothe her than Peta'Yala vas Huzzi?"

"No one," Peta declared, his goal set, "It will be done. That filthy human's blood shall be spilt."

"Good to hear it. His death will take a great weight off both of our shoulders. I have agents on standby if you require anything. You need backup, and my agents will move at your command. Good luck, Mister Yala. May our business conclude with both of us wearing smiles," And with that, the Broker cut the comm channel, allowing Peta to fall back into his bunk.

Kill Shepard. Get the girl of his dreams.

He sighed, knowing he must murder a man to get what he wanted, but in the end...

...if he wanted something, he had to take it.

**"Your mum."**

**Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.**

**"My mum."**

**- Marcus Shepard.**

**"That was a...interesting, experience."**

**- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.**

**"You bet it was."**

**- Marcus Shepard.**

_**A/N:**_

_**Please review! I need the sustenance! Everyone of you reading, review! Let me know what you think of these revelations and plot twists!**_

**YOL'TIYA: KHELISH FOR 'MY OTHER HALF' OR 'MY LOVE.'**


	7. Chapter 6 Hello To You Too, Mum

**REQUIEM**

**CHAPTER SIX:**

**HELLO TO YOU TOO, MUM**

_October 15, 2185_

_1310 hours._

_Citadel Embassies Courtyard, Citadel Embassies, Presidium, The Citadel._

_Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Gunnery Master Garrus Vakarian, Soldier Urdnot Grunt, Master Thief Kasumi Goto, Assassin Thane Krios, Captain Hannah Rila Shepard._

"**Where the **_**fuck **_**have you been!?**"

Marcus was still trying to recover from the massive slap his mother had given him, but didn't cradle his face, merely trying to ignore the sting covering his right cheek. He could just imagine the red hand print it left. After all these years, his mum still had one hell of a swinging arm. A city buster, Anderson called it. As he looked on, he saw Garrus barely containing a smirk, while Grunt didn't even bother, deciding to go all out in his laughter. Thane remained inpassive and he couldn't even see where Kasumi was.

He turned back to his mother, who's hands were clenched in tight fists and her face had veins popping all over. He had never seen her so angry; so infuriated. He understood her reasons, but it didn't stop him from feeling victimized.

She was still fuming when he finally responded to her outburst, "Hello to you too, mum."

She moved forward, prepared to give him another swing, but instead shoved a finger in his face, "You selfish boy! You stupid, idiotic, _fuckwit _of a boy! I thought you were dead! _We all thought you were dead! _I spent two years grieving! I had buried all but a body! Hell, I outright _refused _a promotion to admiral to honor your legacy! And now you pop up? Oh, don't tell me, its _classified_. But you could have at least told me you were alive! You spent two years alive and only now appear? You selfish idiot! Your father would be disgusted in your-"

"I was dead mum," he had let his mum rant, but now he had to cut her off before she went too far, "I was just a scorching piece of meat rotting on Alchera's surface. These past two years I was _dead_. Not alive, just dead. You had every right to grieve."

"I am not stupid son!" Hannah growled, "You expect me to believe you were actually dead? I believed you about the Reapers, as ridiculous as it sounded, but I'm not about to believe you died and got resurrected."

"Then you're in for some disappointment," Marcus mumbled, standing up to his full height to meet her eyes. Her features softened, but her face was still full of anger, "For two years, I was dead. But...I was found, and they put billions of credits into resurrecting me. I'm not a clone, and I'm not a VI construct, I'm the real thing. I'm your son."

A tear left one of Hannah's eyes and drifted down her cheek, "But...but how? How could they-who?"

"Cerberus mum. Cerberus brought me back," he admitted and he saw his mother visibly bristle at the mention of the terrorist organization, "I know, I didn't like it either, but they brought me back mum. They gave me a second chance, and I have to at least thank them for that. I only woke up a few months ago."

"You've been up for a few months and _still _never bothered to contact me?" Hannah asked incredulously, "Why?"

"I had to put the mission first, I'm sorry," Marcus informed her, "There was too much hanging on my mission; I couldn't drag you into that. Besides, there was a possibility I could have died again, and I didn't want you to know I was alive incase you had to go through my death all over again."

"The brass told me about the Collectors, but they only just told me you were involved," Hannah's eyes continued to tear up, "I'm glad you sent the Collectors straight to hell, and I would have lended my dreadnought if I could. I...I'm so sorry, son," Without prior warning, Hannah launched forward and wrapped her only son in a tight hug. He was surprised at first, but he quickly recovered and returned the embrace. He heard her mumble in his ear.

"I'm so proud of you. All those things you've done," Hannah told him, breaking off the hug, but holding him at arm's length, afraid death might take him away again, "Those brass scumbags wanted to sweep you under the rug. My boy, all his achievements, forgotten. You didn't deserve that."

Marcus nodded in understanding, "What about that promotion you mentioned? You turned down becoming an admiral?"

Hannah laughed lightly, "Yeah, my own way of telling the alliance that they could get fucked. I'll tell you more; how about we go to a restuarant and catch up? I want to know all about your mission against these Collector bastards and how my son once again showed them who's boss."

Marcus chuckled, "Sounds great, mum. I've got some time to spare," _But there's also someone I want you to meet_, "Also mum, I don't think I told you this, but I met someone, someone very special. We met two years ago, but our relationship has only-"

"You mean Tali?" Hannah finished for him and the spectre gave a him wide-eyed look of shock. She only laughed, eyes filled with mirth and amusement, "Don't look so shocked Mark; I met that sweet girl...two years ago. It was just after your death. We met after your funeral, and she told me about how you two had been together. Poor girl thought I'd hate her for taking my son, but I was just happy that you found someone special in your life. You never did have any solid relationships."

The spectre laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, "Ten girlfriends. But Tal is special; she's the only one I've felt...this protective over."

Garrus scoffed, quickly gaining the attention of both Shepards, "_**Ten? **_You must suck at relationships if you've been dumped ten times! Shepard, the King of the Dump."

Marcus shot a glare in his direction, "They were high-school relationships mostly and...and two of them...they were marines under my command and..." he stopped for a moment, meeting Garrus' eyes, look serious, "One I lost on Akuze, and the other on Elysium."

Garrus' eyes widened with guilt, "Shepard, I didn't mean it like that. I-didn't know."

"Its fine. Not your fault..." Marcus drifted off, but hopefully noticed the turn the conversation had taken and cleared her throat, looking at the four bodyguards surrounding Marcus, "And who are these you find yourself in the company of? I remember Mr. Vakarian, but I'm pretty sure the krogan looked different in the vids. And I don't recognize you two at all," Hannah told them.

"I am not Battlemaster Urdnot Wrex. He is still on Tuchanka, uniting the krogan clans," Grunt informed Hannah, slamming his fists together, "I am Urdnot Grunt, student under my battlemaster's wise counsel. Your son is strong, powerful and unmatched in battle; he is the battlemaster of all battlemasters. I am honored to meet the female who created such a powerful seed," With that, Grunt kneeled infront of Hannah; a symbol of respect among krogan.

Hannah raised an eyebrow at the krogan's symbolic bow and turned to Marcus, smirking. She turned back to Grunt, wiping the smirk from her face and clasping her hands behind her back, "Well...Urdnot Grunt, I am...honored to have such a son."

Grunt stood to his full height, easily matching Hannah's size, "The krogan will sing songs of your offspring, and you will be remembered as the one who created such a powerful warrior. He chooses a powerful and possessive mate as well."

Hannah frowned. _Powerful and possessive? The Tali I knew was a shy, selfless, nervous little girl on pilgrimage. She must have really changed over the past two years. _She nodded at Grunt, and watched as Kasumi and Thane approached and introduced themselves.

"I am Thane Krios, an honor to meet Shepard's mother," the drell greeted, shaking Hannah's hand, "I have worked with your son during a sizable portion of the Collector conflict and I admire his audacity in combat, his charisma when talking with his crew, and his ability to look past interspecies-barriers to find someone to love. Your son is a remarkable individual, and it is truly inspiring to work alongside him during the last days of my life."

"Last days?" Hannah asked, confused, "If you're so old, how could you fight on the battlefield?"

Thane laughed a croaky laugh at the captain's misinterpretation of his words, "No, I am not old, not for drell anyway. All drell suffer a degenerative disease called Kepral's syndrome. It is not communicable, but is lethal to drell and dramatically shortens our lifespan. We get it on birth and once we have it, we have a certain time limit until our lungs can no longer take in oxygen, and we die. I am just glad I got to serve with your son and live to see the results of our work."

"I'm sorry to hear that. If you're working for my son, you must be a good man. I hope you find peace when you die," Hannah reassured him, turning to the young thief, who was smiling a huge grin, "And you are?"

The little thief shot out a hand, eagerly awaiting Hannah's reciprocation, "Kasumi Goto, Master Thief. I have to say, it is quite interesting meeting Shep's mother. Maybe I could-"

"Kasumi," Marcus stopped her mid-sentence, suffering a glare from the thief, "I know where you're going with that train of thought. Best derail it now."

She poked her tongue out at him and turned back to Hannah, whispering in her ear, "I'll tell you later. Let's just say, I've got some embarassing Shep moments to show you. You know, we'll reserve it for some womanly time?"

Hannah nodded, smiling at the prospect. She liked to tease her son, and this thief might be able to help her dig up dirt on him. He even used to look at fornax, especially the sections that involved asari. Obviously that obsession had died quickly. She was liking this young thief, Kasumi, already. Yes, she would definitely talk with her when this was over.

She turned to her son, motioning to the skycar, "So, you going to take your old woman to a nice little restuarant and invite your girlfriend over? I'd like to see her again. We haven't spoken in two years, after all."

Marcus nodded and they all piled into the skycar, Marcus taking the skycar controls and taking off, selecting the Amazonian Rain Restuarant, setting it to autopilot, and asking Tali to meet him at the specified coordinates. She told him she had work to do and had to coordinate the construction workers, but Marcus explained they weren't coming and promised to explain when she got there. Her response was a frustrated 'fine' and then she cut the comm.

He leaned back and smiled. _The Council and Alliance will fall in line eventually, they'll have to. The Illusive Man will be out of the picture at least and we can get the repairs we need at Illium, and then head to the Migrant Fleet. But for now, I've got alot of catching up to do with my mother. And Tali will be able to sit down and have a proper conversation with her. _

This day was better than most. No Collectors to worry about, just the little things.

**{Loading...}**

_October 15, 2185_

_1327 hours._

_Shuttle Bay, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, Docked with the Citadel._

_Subject Zero Jack, Justicar Samara._

She yelled out as she slammed into the crate behind her, pain shooting up her back. Her biotics dimmed to a dull glow as she collapsed, face first, onto the floor, hands only just stopping her from completely face-planting into it. The floor was cold to the touch and she watched as blood dripped from her nose and fell onto the ground in tiny driplets. She growled, wiping the thick, red liquid from her mouth and turned her head up, looking at Samara, who stood poised at the other end of the bay, position firm and azure glow pulsating.

With a shout of pure anger, Jack stood up, determined to keep going. She was exhausted from their training, and it was because of her strained biotics that she was getting a blood nose. She was ready to collapse from fatigue, but she wasn't going to give in yet. Not to this righteous asari. _I'll be fucked before I give up to this asari bitch. _

Samara didn't waste anytime and quickly picked up another crate with her biotics, and immediately threw it towards Jack. The petite young woman sent a jet of biotic power off to her side, acting as a thruster to send her skidding out of the way as the crate flew by harmlessly. With the crate gone, Jack charged the justicar, raising a biotic barrier infront of her to block any attacks the asari might give out.

But like always, the justicar outwitted her. Without even flinching, Samara used that biotic jumping shit she liked to show off and 'teleported' inside Jack's barrier, following this up with a biotic shockwave that the convict shooting through the air to collide with the wall behind her, sliding back to the ground in a crumbled heap.

The asari justicar disappeared from sight as Jack landed behind the scorched, torn mess of the hammerhead tank. The vehicle had been crippled during the Battle of the Collector Base; one of those oculus sphere things boarded the ship and attacked them, and they took the hammerhead to destroy it. They succeeded, but not before the Oculus tore half the tank in half. Now it was just laying there, completely useless, waiting to be thrown out the airlock.

She heard Samara speak as she once more crawled back to her feet, "You rely far too much on your biotics, Jack. Use your surroundings to your advantage; with your biotics, inanimate objects, like crates, can be turned into lethal projectiles. This will greatly bolster your offensive and defensive capabilities, as the objects can also be turned into shields."

With the asari's words, Jack had an idea form in her mind. Her eyes locked with the side of the tank and she stood up fully, calling upon the full might of her biotic abilities. Soon enough, Jack was so alight with dark power, that she was almost unrecognizable in the ball of bright blue and white light. _This is why they call me the all-powerful bitch. _And with a massive biotic shove, she literally picked up the hammerhead and tossed it at Samara before collapsing back to the ground, unable to keep up her work ethic.

Samara's eyes widened as she saw the crippled tank rush towards her, and she knew she couldn't dodge it. Instead, she shot a singularity at it, capturing the vehicle in a tight gravity well, before detonating it with a warp field, the resulting explosion sending the hammerhead slamming into a wall nearby. The sound was enough to shake the whole ship, and she knew people would come prying, but she had been impressed by Jack's sheer display of power. Only the most powerful of biotics could hope to pick up vehicles. Not even matriarchs had been known to do it. There was a legend that an asari matriarch saved an entire colony from a krogan attack by using her biotics to pick up a frigate and throw it into another ship, but it had never been proven.

_Shepard calls her a biotic powerhouse, and for good reason. _Samara, now genuinely breathing heavily, steadily approached Jack's slouched form, noticing just how much effort it had taken for the convict to move the vehicle.

Jack, noticing the justicar standing over, meekly looked up and, to keep up her image, growled, "Well, come to gloat? Go on, tell me how superior you are. You kicked my ass. _Again_."

Samara shook her head, look solemn, "I did not win. You did not win. There was nothing to win; only something to learn. You are improving, but have a while to go. I was impressed by your ability to manipulate the hammerhead however. Few biotics have the will or energy to do it, even my people."

"Bullshit," Jack spat, "You're just saying that to make me feel better. I've been through all this shit before."

"I am an asari justicar and my word is my bond," Samara solemnly swore, "Goddess curse me if I ever lie. You are a powerful biotic Jack, one that could give the most experienced of asari matriarchs pause if taught right. You just need to learn to harness your abilities, improve them and keep your anger in check."

"See? A fucking therapy session. 'Anger in check.' Who the fuck are you, my mother? If I wanted therapy, I'd ask the red-head upstairs," She stood up, ignoring Samara's display of help, wanting to keep her own pride secured. After a bit of fumbling, she stood up and simply gave the placid asari a lingering glare before turning to leave, only stopped when the justicar placed a hand on her shoulder and the convict spun around to face her again.

"Your anger needs to be kept in check because it will eventually kill you in combat. I understand you have seen horrible things and the Cerberus experiments wrought on you are unethical crimes, but you cannot let them define who you are," Samara lectured, "You do not remember your real name, or your parents, only that your home was on Eden Prime. You do not remember your old personality before you became Jack, but you can still recover it. You can still become the girl you forgot about and abandoned. Cerberus did not break you. They will not break you unless you let them."

Jack felt painful memories return. She remembered Eden Prime at least; a beautiful colony, looked just like Earth, with its blue skies and endless expanse of green plains. But her parents were the problem; she couldn't remember their faces, no matter how hard she tried. And her name...it had started with J, which is why she called herself Jack, as it was the most basic name she could think of starting with J, but she couldn't remember it fully. She didn't want the memories to return. She shook the asari's hand off and quickly stormed into the elevator, not looking back as Samara stared blankly at her. She waited for the doors to close infront of her before hitting the button for the the engineering deck.

_Damn it, why did that justicar bitch make me remember? I forgot about that place long ago. Who I was, who my parents were...I don't give a fuck about that anymore. I am Jack, not Subject Zero, but Jack, the scared kid turned powerful biotic bitch. I'm the little crazy girl that noone cares about. I'm just a tool to be used and discarded...Fuck, am I that retarded? Self-pity? Damn I'm pathetic._

The elevator quickly arrived on the engineering deck and she stormed out, hoping to just hide in her hidey-hole under engineering; hopefully that quarian wasn't working down there. _She'll just remind me of what I could have had. _As she moved, she bumped into Zaeed, who gave a grunt of disapproval, but otherwise ignored her. She liked Zaeed; he was the only one who get down on her level. Everyone else was either too calm, too rough, too kind or too...boy-scoutish. _When you get down to it, its always about Shepard himself, isn't it?_

She rushed down the staircase and quickly ran into the maintenance area of engineering; her hidey-hole, as many called it. To her relief, Tali wasn't working down there, so she had the whole area to herself. She dumped herself on her bunk and lay down, looking up at the grey, metal grates that served as her ceiling, the drive core humming behind her.

She growled as she inadvertently let her thoughts return to the topic of Shepard. _Why can't I let that slide and stop thinking about him!? He obviously doesn't want me, that's why he chose the quarian! Those two have been together like...two years ago. How can I compete with that? They've fought, bled and sweat together, and me? I've known him a few months and instantly want to fuck him everytime he enters the room. He doesn't want to be with my type, fine with me, but why do I have to be so fucking sentimental about it?_

Lying down wasn't helping, so she gave up and decided to sit up on her bunk, letting her face fall into her hands fluidly. She wiped at her face, but stopped as she examined her tattooes. Her entire body, save the head, was covered in them, and all of them had been for kills or simply because she wanted them. She even had an omni-tattoo on her back. A special ink from a special person who was now dead in a special place. _He liked my tattooes. I could tell; the way he talked about them; he thought they were intricate, fascinating..._

Or she was looking for excuses, loopholes...

She sighed as she stood up and leapt ontop of the container infront of her, which existed for the sole reason of...nothing, she just liked jumping ontop of it. _I stood ontop of this thing when I suggested to Shepard that we go pirating...such a boy scout...anyone else would have said yes just to get me into bed, but he just denied me like he hadn't even considered it. Fucking paragon. _She snarled. _Just stop it! Why the hell do you care so much?_

Because she wanted him; she didn't show it, but she _wanted _him. She wasn't as obvious about it as the quarian upstairs, but she knew it. Deep down, she knew it. Who could blame her anyway? Shepard was the man that every woman wanted to get their hands on; either to make them feel special or simply because he was a reknowned hero. Hell, she knew the cheerleader wanted Shepard all over her...and that red-head...damn, that red-head would fuck anything if it had a cock...I've seen how she looks at that drell dude...

And the more Jack thought about it, she'd do anything to get her claws on him. Shepard had risen her out of the primordial muck, as far as she was concerned, and that made him hers. She had always wanted someone to love her, to care for her, and the only person who had actually done that was dead; he sacrificed his life so she could escape a batarian frigate that they had both decided to raid. She never forgot him.

She needed Shepard; for closure, for stress-relief, for love? She had no idea, she just needed him. Maybe he felt the same way. Maybe he secretly wanted her in return and just didn't show it or tell her. _Maybe he's with the quarian out of a sense of obligation. Pity, maybe? Yeah, that has to be it. Why else choose her over someone like big-tit-cheerleader? Hell, he could have had the asari. Maybe I'll go up there and ask him. Maybe...maybe I'll go up there and just fuck him. No...that's not how the boy scout would do it. He'd want me to confess my feelings first. I'll do that and then I'll fuck him. Yes, he can't resist me. He won't. _

She smiled lightly as she looked for one of EDI's holopads. After finding one, she asked if EDI was there. Her hologram quickly appeared, "What can I do for you Jack?"

"Where is Shepard right now?" Jack asked as innocently as she could.

"He is not onboard the ship. Garrus returned and stated that he was at a restuarant with his mother and Tali. He most likely won't return to the ship until late night, and most likely unavailable as he will either be sleeping or having...time with Miss Zorah."

"Thanks EDI," Jack thanked.

"Logging you out Jack," and with that, EDI's hologram disappeared, allowing Jack to return to her bunk, fall down into it and rest her eyes, a smile on her face. _I'll wait until the quarian isn't around and then spring. He's got to love me, I know he does. And I'm going to prove it. I'll be patient; not a proud trait of mine, but one I'll learn fast. I hope._

And with that, Jack fell into a dreamless sleep. Most of her sleep was like that. But soon, it would be filled with Shepard. She liked the quarian for her spunk and badass attitude, but when it came to getting the boy scout, her friends didn't matter. Hell, she'd probably laugh at the sight of Shepard kicking Tali out of his cabin. Oh, the mirth...

Jack wasn't an evil person. But when it came to Shepard, anything could happen...

**{Loading...}**

_October 15, 2185_

_1348 hours._

_Table 12, Amazonian Rain Restuarant, Romulus Ward, The Citadel._

_Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Chief Engineer Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Captain Hannah Rila Shepard._

And here, Marcus thought it would take a while to get a seat. But once people know you're Commander Shepard, getting a table was as easy as asking for one. Now they sat at a three-seat table; Hannah on one side, Marcus and Tali on the other. There was obviously no point in hiding their relationship from her, as Hannah apparently already knew. Now they were just waiting to be served. It as a human restuarant, so luckily the staff hadn't been...too troubled by letting a quarian in, much to Marcus' relief.

Hannah smiled, or she grinned, but either way, her lips tugged upwards and she looked at both of them, "So...Tali, its been a while. Two years? God, feels like a century. Last I saw you, you were a shy girl on...pilgrimage, was it? You've changed alot."

Tali laughed, leaning forward and placing her hands on the table, "Shepard's death..." she seemed to lose her smile for a moment, but it sprang back up when Marcus wrapped his arm around her waist and rubbed her back, letting her know he was there. With this knowledge, her smile returned and she continued, "Shepard's death was hard, but I managed to seal that wound and move on. I got a new suit immediately upon returning the fleet and got posted to the Neema. The data Marcus gave me really helped," she nodded in Marcus' direction, allowing the spectre to smile, "I later decided to become a marine, and I technically outrank Marcus now, but I follow his command still. He's a far better leader than me anyway."

Marcus scoffed, "She does herself no justice. I've seen her lead teams; if it wasn't for her being quarian and female, I would've thought I was watching myself. She was a natural."

She blushed under her mask, "I learnt from the best."

Hannah smirked widely as she leaned forward, "So, what did you think when you first saw him again? Did you freak out like I did?"

Tali giggled, as she looked at Marcus, "Well, at first I was ready to put a bullet in his head for being an impostor. I was so angry at seeing him again, I thought he was just a Cerberus abomination. But when I learnt it was him, I...I..."

"Slapped me," Marcus finished for her.

Hannah guffawed, "So you did freak out. I have a feeling we'll get along just fine Tali. We're more alike than you think."

"Because she slapped me?" Marcus asked, "And now you two suddenly have a bond?"

"Because she slapped _you_," Hannah firmed, "Commander Shepard, Hero of the Citadel, Conqueror of the Collectors, slapped by a quarian marine. That's a headline I'd love to see. She's the only one allowed to slap you and get away with it unharmed; just like me," she got a devilish grin in Tali's direction, and the quarian grinned alittle behind her mask.

"Well, if there's a little woman conspiracy going on between you two, I think I'd better break it up for fear of my life," With that, the spectre moved onto a different topic, "So mum, how's life been treating you? Is Commander Phillipo still on the ship?"

"Hasn't left," Hannah grinned, taking a sip of the water provided, "The man's as loyal an XO as you can get, aside from that turian of yours."

"He's not my XO-"

"Anyway," Hannah continued, "I wasn't the only one to refuse a promotion. He used three offers of promotion to Captain. He was offered the Stalingrad, another Normandy-Class stealth frigate. Then he was offered the Tai Shan, a Kilimanjaro-Class dreadnought, and finally, he was offered the Hastings, a light cruiser, but he refused all three of them to stay on as my XO. He liked you Mark; he was pissed off what they did to you after your death and how badly they treated your funeral. It was pathetic; it wasn't a funeral, it was an inconveinence. You deserved better. So he basically told the Alliance to get fucked when he refused all those promotions. 'Italian spirit' he called it."

Marcus smiled at the memory of Phillipo. His memory was blurry, but he was pretty sure he met the guy when he had just finished destroy a bunch of geth strongholds in the Armstrong Cluster, and he was handing over the classified data to his mother. Phillipo, or Phillip as he preferred to be called, had been a respectable man that Marcus had grown to like. A pity he only saw him twice; the geth data exchange and the 2183 War Games. Those were two years ago...

"Where is he now?" Marcus asked.

"Fashioning supplies for the Orizaba. We're low on rations, so we have to restock on those," Hannah joked, "We just got back from completing the 2185 War Games with the quarians. Now we're going to be assigned to the newly discovered 2185 Xavier Nebula to help with a first contact situation."

Marcus' eyes widened at both revelations, "War Games with the Migrant Fleet? How long as that been going for?"

Hannah shrugged, "About half a year. We're trying to improve relations with the Flotilla, or at least that's the official story. I really think its just the Alliance giving Primarch Fedorian a helping hand."

"Why's that?" Tali asked.

"One of the quarian admirals, this Han'Gerrel, he's been causing trouble along the turian border for quite awhile now and the primarch thinks enough is enough. He wants us to keep Gerrel distracted so he'll stop harassing their trade routes and raiding shipping lanes. Fedorian knows better than to declare war against a species that can barely defend themselves, but it won't be long before the hierarchy calls for it," Hannah informed them.

Marcus shook his head in annoyance, "The acts of one admiral out of four of them. Anyway, that sounds great, but what's this about a first contact situation?"

Hannah rolled her eyes, "Those nosey asari poking into corners they best keep out of, yet this time, they find a species that doesn't tear apart their diplomats," Hannah announced, "They're called the raloi. Asari sent a cruiser to make direct, formal contact with them after they launched their first spaceship and discovered their system's mass relay. The Alliance has sent for a dreadnought task group, that's mine, to escort the asari and turian task groups in picking up the raloi diplomats and ambassadors and transporting them to the Citadel to welcome them into the galactic community."

"I wish our first contact went half as well," Marcus mumbled.

Hannah smiled, "In some ways, it did. We kicked the turians in the ass and showed them they aren't the top guns they think they are; now they have humans to compete with."

The spectre laughed at that, "Damn right."

"I guess since you didn't hear of the raloi, you didn't hear about what the reporters are calling the 'Virtual Aliens?'" Hannah asked, waving her glass around.

Marcus frowned, not sure what she meant, "Virtual Aliens? Is that another alien species we don't know of?"

"You really haven't watched the news, have you?" Hannah asked and noticing the blank stares from both of them, she sighed and continued, "Some human organization, ExoGeni I think it was, found this derelict ship that had been wandering the stars for close to eight thousand years. It had come from another galaxy apparently and was of technology incosistent with ours. They found noone onboard, but quickly found out it was a ship filled with supercomputers that housed the souls of billions of 'virtual aliens.' Apparently something went wrong with their homeworld and they had to save themselves by uploading into the ship and escaping. So let's just say that 2185 is the year for first contacts."

All three of them laughed and were about to switch topics when the waiter finally arrived, standing infront of them, omni-tool out and ready, "Are you ready to take orders or do you need alittle more time, sir? Ma'ams?"

Marcus nodded, looking the waiter straight in the eyes, "I'll have the Texas Rib with a Creamy Soda, please."

"I'll have the salad, dressing, but with no steak please. I'd also like a large skinny latte, no sugar," Hannah replied.

All eyes turned to Tali, who seemed to be staring at the dextro section of the menu.

"Tali," Marcus whispered softly, lightly tapping Tali on the shoulder. She flinched, realizing they were waiting for her and quickly went to make her order. And he knew what she had chosen. _Oh no you don't..._

"I'll just have the nutr-"

"Sorry," Marcus interrupted, drawing the waiter's attention and causing Tali and Hannah to glare daggers at him, "What she meant to say, was could she please have the _gil'vat'i _with dextro sauce? She'd also like a Palaven Hot Wine, thank you."

When the waiter had finished taking their orders, he quickly left, leaving Tali to argue with Marcus. Hannah had broken off after she saw what Marcus was doing, but Tali wasn't giving in, "Why did you do that, Marcus! A _gil'vat'i_!? Do you know how expensive that is? Its a waste of resources, especially on something like me! Nutrient paste would have been-"

He quickly placed a palm over her vocalizer, stopping her rant for a second. He then leaned in, kissed her on the visor and looking into her eyes, "Tali, you deserve something nice every once and a while. All you do is eat the same, bland nutrient paste. I wanted to give you something different to eat. Something better than paste. Think about it; it'll be the first real meal you've had in months!"

"In two years, you mean," Tali replied, "Marcus, I-"

"Enjoy it Tali. Its on me," Marcus promised, getting out his credit chit and placing it on the edge of the table, deciding he'd pay for it all, "The least I can do for the mother I haven't seen in two years and my quarian girlfriend."

Tali sighed, giving up on arguing with the spectre and leaning back in her seat, which Hannah watched with an apt grin. Hannah did the same thing with Marcus, making him instantly nervous. His fears were confirmed when Hannah leaned further forward, mostly directing her question at Tali, "So...how did you two get back together? And have you done the deed yet?"

Of course, his mother just had to ask that. Of all the questions, she had to ask _that_. This was going to be a very awkward conversation. And to his further chagrin, Tali didn't understand what she meant by the last bit, "'Done the deed?' What does that mean?"

Before Hannah could answer, Marcus leaned in, a flush of red collecting in his cheeks, "She's asking if we've had sex yet."

He could almost feel the heat rising to Tali's cheeks, and he could just imagine that bluish tinge on her pale grey skin. She lowered her head and began to fiddle with her fingers, unable to meet Hannah's eyes out of fear she might say something wrong and humiliate herself. Marcus, deciding to save Tali the embarassment, looked up and answered, "We met on Freedom's Progress, a couple of days after I woke up; call it a very good stroke of luck. She couldn't join me then, but a month later, I rescued her on Haestrom and she joined my team. We began to mend our relationship upon her return and we...um...well she did some research and so did I and we...um...we..."

"Did it," Tali filled in, voice shaky, "We...We did...did _it_. Just before the assault on the Collector Base. We didn't know if we were going to live or not, so we thought that we might as well spend whatever time we had left together."

"You two are priceless. Just don't talking about sex makes you blush. I may not be able to see her face, but I know Tali is blushing. Its in her body language," Hannah dictated, chuckling to herself, "But I can also see that you two are perfect for each other, and I'm glad my son found a proper woman. I was surprised you didn't go for the asari, Liara T'Soni was it? Surprised you didn't go for her, considering your obsession with the asari when you were young."

Marcus gave his mother a pleading look, but it seemed Tali was too curious for her own good.

"He was?" the quarian was, sealing Marcus' fate.

Hannah smiled evilly, looking thoroughly content with spilling out her son's secrets, "When he was about thirteen, Marcus started going through adulthood. Don't know if you quarians start going through that at that age, but humans do, and he was well into it by thirteen. One day, when I was cleaning his room, Marcus forgot to hide one of his magazines before going to school. You know what I find under the bed?" She asked, and Tali shook her head. Hannah looked at Marcus for a moment, noting how thoroughly uncomfortable he was before looking back at Tali, "A fornax magazine. All I could remember was the picture on the front of it; it was an asari wearing a-"

"Well, I think that's enough!" Marcus almost shouted, sweat collecting on his brow.

"You shut up. Don't interrupt a woman when she's talking," Hannah hissed and Tali nodded, obviously wanting to know more. Before anyone could say anything, Tali exclaimed almost immediately when the full impact of what Hannah had told her hit her.

"He looked at porn?" Tali asked, "Asari porn?"

Hannah nodded, "Yep. When I confronted him about it, I'm pretty sure his face was like a lobster, he was that red-"

"What's a lobster?"

"A sea creature honey," Hannah added for the quarian before continuing, "Anyway, he kept throwing these apologies in my face, but I just asked him why he was so obsessed with asari. I swear he thought I was going to slap him."

"If you were me, you'd understand," Marcus mumbled, "You were the bloody devil."

"And don't you forget it," she responded, turning back to Tali just as the quarian's meal arrived. Tali, for a second, looked at the food, realizing that the restuarant had even remembered to sterilize it. Her drink came next, followed by a small bowl of dextro sauce to dip her food in. From the spectre's point of you, her food liked the Shepherd's pie his mother used to make, which he found slightly ironic. The dextro sauce was a whitish grey in color and didn't look too delicious. _To a dextro, it must be delicious. _Instead, Tali just stared at her food before turning to Marcus. He frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Tali replied, smiling, "I just...it'd feel wrong to start without you. You were always so kind to me; always waiting for me to eat my paste before you ate your own food, I thought I might repay the favor."

He smiled at her but it quickly demolished when Tali turned back around and looked back at Hannah, "So, why _was _he so obsessed with asari?"

"After some reluctance and some prodding from my end, he finally spilt the info I wanted," Hannah told her, "He told me that, get this, humans were 'boring' and he wanted to be like 'other people.' I swear he was going to say 'normal people.' Its sad when finding an asari mate instead of a human for our species is considered normal. Four hundred years ago, we hung homosexuals. Now, we just allow it, so it shows just how far we've changed. But, I digress. He also told me that 'they were pretty' and he 'liked the color purple', pretty ironic, heh?" she motioned towards Tali's purple veil, but continued despite this, "I told him asari were blue, but he didn't care. He seemed set on getting off to asari porn and eventually decided he wanted an asari girlfriend. And when the opportunity was finally given; he fell for a young, shy, quarian girl instead."

"I grew up," Marcus told her, "I was just a horny teenager back then. When I met Tali, I was an N7, bordering on spectre candidacy. Alot had changed." _Besides, as soon as Tali mentioned research, I may have started looking up quarian fornax..._

"Yet you were still into aliens, which I'm perfectly fine with!" Hannah made clear, pointing to Tali, "Miss Zorah is far better than any of those girls you chose to date when you were in high school. She actually cares about you and loves you, unlike those other women. Only one gave a damn about you, and it turned out it was simply because she thought you were a Terra Firma supporter."

Marcus scoffed, "Yeah, Maria was a racist bitch."

"And all the others just used you because of...well, you were pretty popular. Not to mention a few just wanted to get in your pants..." Hannah trailed off.

Marcus sighed as he remembered that, "I was drunk mum, I didn't know what I was doing. By the time I got over that bloody hangover, I'd already done the deed with her. I dumped her after that, remember?"

"You shouldn't have gotten drunk in the first place," Hannah scolded, turning back to Tali, whispering, "He went partying alot; typical teenage stuff. Sometimes he got drunk, but he would never do red sand. Anyone who offered it to him either got a beating or was reported to the ship's captain."

"Wait, you lived on a ship?" Tali asked, directing the question at Marcus.

"Born on one yes, I'm sure I told you this," Marcus declared but the quarian shook her head, forcing Marcus to explain. Sighing, he began, "I was born on the SSV Einstein, an alliance light carrier. I never met by father, as he died long before I was born, so my mum and lived onboard it. We sometimes got reassigned, like a few temporaries on Arcturus, then a few on some cruisers, dreadnoughts or frigates, but we eventually landed back on the Einstein, where we stayed until I joined the Alliance. In quarian culture, I guess I would have been...?"

"Marcus'Shepard nar Einstein," Tali remarked playfully.

"nar Einstein?" Hannah asked, confused, "Why would he be called that?"

"Its part of quarian culture. Before we complete our pilgrimage, we are called 'nar' and then the ship we live on. Nar means 'child of.' I am nar Rayya, which means I am a child of Rayya. My new name is 'vas Normandy', because once I complete my pilgrimage, I am an adult and must choose a new ship to live on. 'Vas' means 'crew of.' I am 'Crew of Normandy.' We used to refer ourselves by 'pav' instead of 'vas', but that changed when we lost our homeworld."

"What does 'pav' mean?" Hannah asked.

"It means 'Citizen of'. If I was born on Rannoch, I'd be pav Rannoch, 'Citizen of Rannoch.' Its a title we lost the right to a long time ago."

Hannah nodded, impressed, "Well, consider you two are together, I'm guessing you'd be teaching each other your respective language."

Marcus looked at Tali, raising an eyebrow, and he could tell Tali was as well. The quarian looked back at Hannah just as the rest of the food arrived, and the two Shepards quickly dug into their meals while Tali began eating hers and speaking at the same time, "I...we never really thought about that. I mean, if Marcus wants to learn khelish, I could teach him..." she stopped, widening her eyes at the delicious taste of the food she was eating. She arched her back, displaying the pleasure assaulting her taste buds and moaning, causing Marcus to chuckle alittle. She slapped him across the back of the head, but that didn't stop him from continuing to laugh.

Remembering what they had talked about before, Marcus turned to Tali, smiling, "You know what Tali, I think I would like to learn some khelish. Starting with what bosh'tet means."

The engineer sighed, shooting him an accusing look, "I promised I'd tell you what that meant!"

"I promised to tell you what pun meant as well, you know," Marcus winked, garnering another sigh from the engineer. He couldn't on, but this time more seriously, "I honestly want to learn Tali. I love you and it'd feel wrong not to learn your people's culture and language. Maybe you could give me some history lessons too. Besides, it might help later when I want to impress you. Nothing like seducing someone in their own language."

Tali shot a knowing look at Marcus that he could read easily. _You and me. Later. Your cabin. _He smiled devilishly, but apparently his mother knew him too well and decided to break up the moment.

"Please you two, not while this old woman is here," Hannah pleaded, turning back to her food, "Now Tali, let's talk about you..."

They had a very long lunch.

**{Loading...}**

_October 15, 2185_

_C-Sec Customs, Level 27, Zakera Ward, The Citadel._

_Assassin Thane Krios, Captain Armando Owen Bailey._

Thane quickly made his way out of his skycar and weaved through the tight crowds of the Zakera Ward, deciding that using his assassin skills to hide wasn't necessary. The area was a flood of activity; a salarian game store clerk was shouting about discounts on the new 'Galaxy of Fantasy' expansion packs, and the drell was sure he could hear Shepard's voice being played a PA system outside a cafe.

The drell assassin had learnt alot travelling with Commander Shepard. When he had stormed the Dantius Towers, he had planned to die there, fighting off waves of eclipse mercenaries until he finally fell. But then Shepard had turned up and asked for his help; and how could he refuse? The paths he took in his life were always distraught and full of unplesantness, and Shepard's mission against the Collectors had been no different, so he had no reason not to do so. Shepard's crew was something different.

They were a mixed and charismatic bunch. They had a convict, viglante, justicar, master thief, three quarians of varying skills and so much more. And Shepard himself had always treated the drell has an equal; Mr. Taylor was always skeptical and hostile towards him, and understandably, but Shepard had treated him like a person that belonged. He did this with all of his crew. He was of a unique character, and because of that, Thane thought of him not as a comrade or fellow person, but a friend. It was a quality Thane couldn't share with many people he met; the assassin's life was usually one of solitude.

All these thoughts and more clouded his mind as he moved towards the C-Sec Outpost, one particular memory hitting him as he moved towards Captain Bailey's desk.

_Thane doubled back to his cover, lowering his rifle and watching his allies move in. The bulky form of the krogan came first, shotgun in hand, roaring with laughter. Than came an asari, adorned in a red uniform. 'A Justicar? Interesting,' I thought. The rest of the squad followed; a turian with a sniper rifle, a half-naked tattooed human, a human in alliance combat armor with tech armor, another human wearing a cerberus uniform and finally a quarian with a shotgun with the leading man himself. The way the quarian and himself stayed close caused the drell to quirk a brow. 'The quarian is his siha,' he thought._

The memories faded away and he was almost at Bailey's desk. _I lost my own siha a long time ago, and I miss her dearly. Shepard is a lucky man, and unique to find love in a non-human. I may not have Irikah anymore, but I still have something important. And now that we have reconciled, we can finally talk to one another again._

He arrived at the human C-Sec officer's desk, reptilian hands folded behind his back, waiting. He waited for a bit before the human captain finally noticed him and looked up from his terminal. Upon seeing who it was, he forgot about his objection and let a smile cross his face, "Ah, you must be Thane. Is there something I can do for you?"

"I'd like to see my son, Kolyat," Thane requested.

"Of course you do," Bailey replied, leaning back in his seat, "I'm sorry to tell you, but he's still out on community service. He most likely won't be back for another hour at the most. After that, I can release him and you can talk to him. I didn't take his whole 'assassinate the anti-human' thing to court, so all he got was community service, lucky kid. Not all kids are as lucky as yours."

"To which I'm grateful," Thane thanked, looking for a seat, "I shall wait until he returns."

"Suit yourself. Better find somewhere comfy, it'll be a while," Bailey told him, nodding to the drell as he turned back to his console and began typing into it again. Just as the drell left the customs outpost, he could hear Bailey begin to chastise someone for doing something wrong. Thane just found a place to sit and waited for his son's return, hoping he didn't do anything rash.

Finally, after an hour, like Bailey said, Kolyat returned, a mop and bucket held firmly in his hands as he approached the janitorial closet. Thane got up and followed him, waiting for him to finish in the closet before greeting him. As Kolyat came out, he almost leapt back in surprise from seeing Thane, thinking he was someone trying to spring him, "By Arashu! Don't do that, father."

"I apologize," the assassin replied, motioning to Bailey's desk, "Once you've signed out, would you like to accompany me to a local cafe? We haven't spoken since I stopped your assassination of Joram Talid."

Kolyat let a meek smile cross his features, "That sounds...good, father. Just let me sign out and I'll join you."

Thane nodded and waited outside, once more contemplating all that Shepard had done for him. He turned back to Kolyat, who was currently speaking with Bailey. He watched his son talk, and a smile crept across his face. _Shepard not only lifted me from my battle sleep, but he let me see my son again. To stop him from walking a deadly path. He let me reconcile with my son, to which I'm eternally grateful. He's all I have left now; with Irikah gone, Kolyat's all the family I'll ever have..._

Eventually, Kolyat returned and nodded to his father, who quickly turned around and walked over to the cafe nearby, ordering a couple of drell-friendly drinks for both of them before taking a seat in the cafe, away from most of the commotion. The store was occupied by a single elcor and hanar, two volus and a couple asari. The only turian was the woman behind the counter, and she seemed pretty bored.

As Thane came back with the drinks, he placed them on the table and took a seat across from his son, hands clasped on the table. He looked at Kolyat, watching as the drell eagerly gulped at his drink, looking as if he hadn't had a drink in ages. _He's still as ecstatic as he was when I left him on Kahje all those years ago. He was always so energetic, so full of life. Irikah used to call him 'Qualiz', God of Energy reborn. She loved Kolyat so much, said he had a part of herself in him, and his father's determination. _He felt weak without Irikah, but with his new band of friends, and Kolyat? He felt stronger than before.

"Father?"

"Yes Kolyat?"

"Are you okay? You're crying."

Thane quickly wiped away the tears that had formed on his cheeks and smiled, "Its nothing Kolyat. So, tell me what you've been up to."

And father and son talked. Two people seperated for decades, reunited by a galactic hero. Anything seemed to be possible in a galaxy like this.

**"So, next it was time to say goodbye to Hannah and head for Illium."**

**- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.**

**"With some problems along the way."**

**- Marcus Shepard.**

_**A/N:**_

_**I suck at writing Thane okay! Its not my fault...well, actually it is, as I just don't seem to like the Thane character as much as everyone else. He's a great character and well-developed, I just simply can't write him, no matter how hard I try, so scenes with Thane will be short and to the point. Don't worry though, I won't marginalize him. Actually, he'll play a more pivotal part as the story progresses.**_

_**This might be the last chapter I do for a while, so don't get your hopes up. School just started up again and Year Ten promises to be brutal to me. However, I might get lucky, so I guess we'll see. You'll just have to keep your fingers crossed. But at least I've got motivation; I bet you guys will want to see how the whole Marcus/Jack thing will turn out.**_


	8. Chapter 7 Dilemmas At Best

**REQUIEM**

**CHAPTER SEVEN:**

**DILEMMAS AT BEST**

_**A/N**_  
_**Warning: Smut Ahead. You have been warned. **_

_October 15, 2185_

_2352 hours._

_Docking Bay D5, Romulus Docks, Romulus Wards, The Citadel._

_Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Chief Engineer Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Captain Hannah Rila Shepard._

Marcus watched as the SSV Orizaba came into view, the massive dreadnought only just fitting into the dock it was latched to. He remembered the vessel like it was yesterday; the length of the vessel was almost impossible to determine from where he was standing, but it was huge. The Killmanjaro-class dreadnought looked like one long rectangle with two wings stretching its length, moving diagonally down its spine before meeting at the bow of the ship in two long antennae. The bow sported the Systems Alliance insignia, and not far down, the vessel's name. The bridge was located down near the rear of the ship. It was an impressive sight to behold.

He watched with a smile as Tali looked in awe at the vessel, impressed by its size. Alliance dreadnoughts weren't anywhere near the size of a quarian liveship; a matter of fact, Marcus was sure that liveships were bigger than even Reapers and Collector cruisers, but still not bigger than asari Ascension-class dreadnoughts, so that was something for him to take note of. Still, it was nice to see Tali examine advanced vessels like she did in the old days. Somethings change, others don't, he supposed.

He yawned, remembering just how long the day had been and how tired he was. He could see Tali was as well; her slumped posture and overall poor attempts at reciprocating showed just how tired she was. But it was nice talking to his mother again after so long, and to know that she approved of his non-human girlfriend. Hannah smiled, looking at them both from the vehicle's internal rear-vision mirror, making the final descent to the landing pad just outside the ship.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the skycar landed and all three of them got out, moving towards the airlock of the colossal dreadnought. A long, portable bridge extended out of the decking and connected with the ship's airlock, and standing there, waiting, was half a squad of alliance marines along with a familiar, italian face...

Marcus smiled as he approached and so did the figure, both of them waving at each other. He heard Tali once again yawn beside him, and he reached out his hand, waiting as Tali took his hand in hers, letting him know she hadn't fallen down asleep yet. They'd get plenty of that tonight. Hand-in-hand, both of them and Hannah moved towards the vessel's airlock and finally reached it, Marcus letting go of Tali's hand to shake Phillip's hand.

"Commander Shepard!" Phillip greeted, shaking the spectre's hand gleefully, "It has been far too long; its good to see you again. I thought you were dead."

"You and the rest of the galaxy," Marcus replied, smirking, "Its good to see you still up and gunning, Phillip. Or do you prefer commander?"

The italian XO laughed, "I prefer Phillip. I no longer outrank you, so I guess we can cut the crappy formalities, no?" the man's smiled fell, his tone becoming dead serious, "I just want you to know that the crew of the Orizaba believe you about the Reaper threat and if you ever need our help, just call."

"Last I checked, I commanded this ship," Hannah piped up, moving to stand beside Phillip, grinning, "But I concur with Phillip's statement; Hackett is with you, and so am I. We may be assigned to the Fourth Fleet as Admiral Arefyev's flagship, but that doesn't mean we won't flock to the Fifth Fleet's side when the Reapers come. When they do, I don't think military formation and protocol will mean worth shit. And if she doesn't like it, she can stick it up her bueracratic-loving asshole."

"Commander, what are you doing here?"

Marcus sighed as he turned around, watching as another squad of marines approached, escorting none other than Fleet Admiral Viktoriya Arefyev. She came to a stop at the bridge connecting to the airlock, hands clasped behind her back. Marcus had an increasing feeling that the fleet admiral didn't like him, but it wasn't of his concern. His mother showed her support, and that's all he wanted.

He met the admiral's harsh glare with his own, "To see my mother, which is well within my right."

"I will decide what is-"

"No, you won't," Marcus declared, "I don't serve the Alliance anymore and I am a Council Spectre; you have no juristiction here, Fleet Admiral."

They both glared at each other for awhile before Arefyev finally broke it off with a cough, "Very well, Spectre Shepard, speak with the captain as you wish. Just don't try to corrupt her with your Reaper nonsense. I don't have room for lunatics on my vessel and I won't tolerate them. Captain Shepard, when you are done, report to the ship immediately. I wish to be gone from this political shithole quickly." And with that, Admiral Arefyev was gone, moving up the ramp to the ship, her marine bodyguards following her up.

Hannah glared at her, mumbling under her breath, "Communist cunt," she then turned back to her son, shrugging, "Well, I must report to my superior. She musn't know I'm 'corrupted.' It might ruin unit cohesion."

"If this were a quarian ship, you could have tossed her out the airlock for what she just did. A captain's rule is always the law on his or her ship," Tali pointed out.

Hannah smiled meekly at the quarian, "I wish I was quarian then; might have helped in the long run," she then turned back to her son, losing her smile, "I guess this is goodbye again."

Seeing as this was a private moment between mother and son, Tali broke away and moved to wait at the skycar, while Phillip quickly saluted both of them, quickly marching back up the ramp and into the ship before Admiral Arefyev came skulking again.

With both of them alone, Hannah turned to her son and smiled widely, immediately walking up to him and wrapping him in a tight hug, Marcus reciprocating not long after. They both held each other for awhile, the spectre able to hear his mother's sobs as she held him, two family members locked tightly. Marcus rubbed her back, comforting her as best he could.

Hannah eventually parted from him, sighing as she sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes, putting on a big smile, "It was good to see you again, son."

Marcus smiled back, patting her shoulder, "You too, mum. We'll meet again, I promise. I'm not on a suicidal mission now, so I'll be fine."

She nodded, "You can never know in a galaxy like this Mark; just be careful. I lost you once, I can't lose you again," she looked over him and at Tali before turning back to him, a knowing grin on her face, "And you've found a special one there. She's adorable and I can tell she really cares about you; so don't you dare do anything to make her sad, or I'll kill you myself. Remember that."

Marcus chuckled, saluting her, "I'll look after her, mum. God gave me a second chance, and I'm not about to waste it. She means alot to me."

"As you do to me," she returned the snappy salute, tears gone and replaced with a serious expression, "I have a feeling she'll be a Shepard soon, so I guess I'll have a quarian daughter-in-law; something to look forward to," she gave him a knowing wink before easing her hand down, followed by Marcus'. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, cupping it with her other hand, "I'm so proud of you; you're doing humanity proud. Don't you dare stop. Don't let assholes like the brass or Udina weigh you down. We're here if you need us, remember that."

"I'll remember that mum. I love you," with that, he kissed her on the cheek, watching as she turned to leave up the ramp. She stopped at the start of it, turning back to her son and nodding, smile as vibrant as ever.

"I love you too, son," and with a final glance, she turned and marched up the ramp and into the Orizaba, airlock doors sealing shut behind her. His gaze lingered on the dreadnought's hull for a while longer before he turned around and marched back towards the skycar, Tali already in the passenger's seat and waiting. Ten meters away from the ship he almost flinched as he heard a loud boom, causing him to spin around on instinct.

But it was just the Orizaba's bow thrusters powering up. He watched in awe as the docking clamps keeping the colossal vessel docked unlatched with a mechanic moan and the ship began to slowly speed up and move backwards, Marcus watching blue energy pulsating at the front of the ship as the thrusters moved it out of dock.

Eventually, the dreadnought's form sped up and it quickly departed the dock, its bow getting clear of the area. With that, the bow thrusters deactivated and the ship's navigator brought her starboard, keeping this path until the alliance vessel faced the purple fog that was the Serpent Nebula. And with one final roar of the ship's powerful engines, the dreadnought powered towards its task force; four frigates and two heavy cruisers, before going to hit the Widow Relay. He missed his mother already, but he knew he would see her again, and for now, he still had the love of his life with him, and that was someone he truly couldn't live without.

He finished his trek towards the skycar, using his omni-tool to unlock the door to the driver's seat and swinging it open, allowing him to take a seat inside. With another flick, his omni-tool tapped into the car's systems and powered up the engines, holographic interface appearing before him. He deactivated his omni-tool and was about to ask Tali what she thought of the day when he heard one of the cutest sounds he had ever heard; Tali snoring.

He turned left, a grin on his face, as his eyes came to land on Tali's slouched and slumbering form, her arms crossed and her head tucked downwards, glowing beacons that were her eyes no longer present behind her mask. Her slow, steady breathing was all the movement seen on her form, her little snores the only sound. He smiled, leaning over and kissing her on the hood, before turning back to his console and quietly taking off, heading back to the Normandy.

It was twenty minutes past midnight on the Citadel when their skycar finally touched down outside the Normandy, Marcus quietly shutting down the skycar and opening the door on both their sides. He stepped out as quietly as he could and into the darkness, closed his door and tip-toed over to Tali's side, where he gently slid his hands under her form and picked her up in his arms, careful not to disturb the quarian's sleep.

He moved over to the Normandy's airlock and immediately remembered the loud sound the Normandy's decon beam made when doing a sweep, but when it started, no sound could be heard. He looked up and for a moment was confused, but when he realized the AI responsible, he gave her a silent thank you and waited for the decon sequence to finish, which wasn't long.

He stepped out onto the brightly lit flight deck, turning to the cockpit to see Joker absent. _Most likely in his sleeper pod. _He did the same as he did outside and quickly, but quietly, moved down the empty flight deck and through the empty CIC, over to the elevator. When he got there, he was about to thump the elevator but it seemed to open of its own accord, EDI silently helping him again. He moved inside and watched as the door closed and the elevator moved up to deck one, seemingly of its own accord.

He hummed silently as he felt the warmth radiate from Tali's body, having her so close to him. She just continued to snore, oblivious to her current situation and location. He felt a hand grope at his shirt and tightly grip it, repositioning herself into a more comfortable position in his arms, an action which he personally found adorable. It was moments like these that he fought for; he fought the geth, destroyed the Collectors and wanted to stop the Reapers so he and Tali could share moments like this forever; to live life together. Tali gave him purpose, and he wanted to return the favor.

The elevator arrived and he quickly moved into the Captain's Quarters, waiting for EDI to unlock it. Once it shut behind him, he locked it and didn't even bother checking his terminal as he moved down the steps and towards the bed, stopping at the edge to ease Tali onto the sheets. The cabin was completely dark aside from the blue light cast by the aquarium, and the only sound was the bubbles from said fish tank. Her head hit the pillow first, followed by the rest of her body and she quickly snuggled into it, mumbling Marcus' name in her sleep. He chuckled lightly to himself before placing the covers over her and up to her shoulders, moving to kiss her on the hood, "Goodnight, Tali. Sleep well. I love you."

Tali's snort was all the reply he got.

With a lopsided grin on his face he moved to the other side of the bed, taking his shirt off and stripping down to his boxers, leaving his clothes folded on the couch, just like how his mother taught him. _Seeing her again as reawakened old habits. _He also took off his omni-tool and placed it on the bed-side table on his side. He kept the same grin as she slid under the blanket with Tali, wrapping her in his arm as he entered a spooning position with his girlfriend. He joined his warmth with hers and kissed the nape of her neck, lying back down. All he saw was the back of Tali's hood as his eyes closed shut and he drifted off to sleep.

The Collectors were gone and the Reapers had yet to arrive. For now, he could enjoy this. This beautiful, euphoric moment. And in a moment, he was asleep, both of them, in blissful, wonderful slumber. One where they only dreamt of each other, and not of their imminent destruction. It was amazing.

**{Loading...}**

_October 16, 2185_

_1139 hours._

_Armoury, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, Docked with the Citadel._

_Major General Kal'Reegar vas Normandy, Second Lieutenant Jacob Taylor, Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko._

Kal had been skeptical a month ago when Marcus asked him to join the Normandy. It was a Cerberus ship full of non-quarians and just about every possible unknown was stuffed into the ship. The marine in him told him it was a mistake joining the crew, while he told himself it was the best decision and would allow him to actually speak with Madi, unlike when he was on the Flotilla, and both of them were constantly training, performing ops or training officers.

But Tali had joined the crew of the Normandy and trusted Shepard with her life, so how bad could it have been?

As it turned out, it _was _the best decision he had ever made. The crew was nothing like he thought they would be; xenophobic, hateful and prejudiced. But everywhere he went, all he got was politeness and people treating him like he was just any other productive member of the team. Learning that Tali was sleeping with Captain Shepard wasn't any surprise to him, but the fact that rumors flew around that both of them had linked suits had shocked him. Tali must trust him alot to have devoted herself like that.

He checked on Madi almost every hour of the day now. Her condition was improving, ableit slowly and there were some days that Chakwas restricted access to the medical bay so that she could run further tests on the quarian's suit systems. He liked seeing her and just talking, along with the occassional kiss that the doctor would allow, but otherwise, she would be fine to walk around in a few weeks, and a month after that, ready for combat duty.

Working in the armoury was a job the quarian had taken to well and while working with a Cerberus loyalist, it was still enjoyable and really did help pass the time. And Jacob was actually a very nice person to talk to when you got to know him, but from what he heard, he wasn't all that popular around the ship, and he could see why. He wasn't exactly an interesting guy; a nice and courteous person, yes, but his background was about as interesting as the history of a fuel line.

Kaidan was different. He was very openly minded and from what he heard, despised Cerberus to the bone, having fought them tooth and nail in the past, but had joined the ship out of loyalty to Shepard. He was an obvious patriot of the Alliance and sometimes stated how much he missed his friends back on Earth, not to mention his parents, but knew his place was on the Normandy, fighting the Reaper threat. And after seeing what Shepard could do in combat, Kal knew who'd he'd lend his gun to in the end.

He stood at his designated weapons bench, having recently disassembled a M-37 Falcon grenade launching assault rifle and had layed it fully on the bench, ready to reassemble it. He had been doing this to all the weapons in the armoury just to pass the time, and so far, it had worked well for him. The M-37 was a unique weapon because it was manufactured by the Systems Alliance, and was technically a grenade launcher, but used thermal clips, making it an assault rifle.

This armoury had basically every weapon on the market, save all the N7 weapons, and the assault rifles interested him the most; the M-55 Argus, M-99 Saber, M-96 Harrier, M-96 Mattock, M-8 Avenger, M-15 Vindicator. They were all here, save the experimental quarian Adas Anti-Synthetic Rifle, but that hadn't even been deployed on the field yet.

He was about to pick up the barrel of the weapon when the armoury door opened and the familiar face of Zaeed Massani, disgruntled as ever, walked into the room, garnering the attention of Kal, Jacob and Kaidan. The mercenary veteran ignored them and found a bench at the end of the room, slamming a rusty looking avenger assault rifle down on the bench and beginning to play around with it, obviously trying to do something. This only confirmed the quarian's suspicions when the bounty hunter began to curse under his breath. The marine turned to Jacob, looking for input, to which he simply shrugged.

"Just leave him be Reegar," Jacob requested, turning back to his bench and his terminal, "I'm sure he'll finish whatever he's doing and then leave. Best if we just stay out of it," after that, the ex-Cerberus operative turned away from his console and cracked his neck, grinning like a bosh'tet, "Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going to go do some workouts in the shuttle bay. Work myself up so I can claim the prize."

Kaidan guffawed at that, teary eyes fixing on Jacob who looked at him like he had just claimed gravity didn't matter, "Are you okay, Alenko?"

"I'm fine," the marine got out inbetween heaving breaths and laughter, "But...seriously...the...prize? Who...the hell...says...that!"

The laughter quickly became contagious and Kal found himself joining in, beginning his own fit of chuckling. Zaeed seemed undistracted, solely focused on fixing his damn rifle.

Jacob rolled his eyes, "Whatever; we'll see who's laughing when I'm the one getting the chicks."

Kal stopped laughing and gave the dark-skinned human a quizzical look, "Chicks?"

Kaidan stopped laughing long enough to explain it to the quarian, "Not translating? Its a slang term. Chicks is short for chicken, which are these dumb animals on Earth. Chicks is also a name that can also be given to chicken's offspring, which are renowned for being abnormally cute. So, hence the term 'chicks.' We call women 'chicks' because of...well...obvious reasons."

Kal scoffed, "I've already got a girlfriend, one I plan to marry, so by all means, collect as many 'chicks' as you want, Taylor."

Jacob shrugged, turning to the door, Kaidan yelling after him, "Act fast too; that Kasumi has eyes on you, but I think Garrus does too."

With that, Jacob increased his pace and ran out the door, causing Kaidan and Kal to look each other and break into another fit of laughter before both returned to their work benches to continue what they were doing. Jacob was technically the Armourer-in-Chief, but Kal and Kaidan were roughly on par in rank, so they shared command of the area, but in this case, Kal was in command while Jacob was gone. To be given such power on a human vessel also showed just how much different Shepard was to standard military.

Zaeed growled again and slammed his rifle back down, cursing. Finally having enough, and the merc's constant cussing becoming a distraction, Kal ceased what he was doing and marched over to Zaeed's bench, stopping infront of it and watching as the bounty hunter pretended he wasn't there. But Kal wasn't going to be warded off easily.

"You going to look at me bosh'tet?" Kal demanded.

Zaeed looked at him, annoyance on his face, "What do you guddam want, quarian? Can't you see I'm trying to fix Jessie?"

"Listen here you bosh-wait, Jessie? Who's Jessie?" Kal asked, confused.

The grizzled mercenary picked up his rusted avenger and held it up infront of the quarian, "This is Jessie; this assault rifle has killed more men and women then you've killed geth. This baby killed the krogan Warlord Gesark, the former CEO of the Blood Pack on Omega. This dusty rifle killed more men then died in the Skyllian Blitz. That rifle helped me board, take and destroy the THS Verikan, a turian frigate. That shitty rifle helped me kill turians, hanar, elcor walking tanks, asari commandos, salarian STG agents and much more. The day I lay Jessie to rest...," the mercenary's look looked almost...sad, as he gazed nostalgically at his rifle, "...that was one of the saddest days of my life. I'd give up any of my weapons to have one more battle with this shitty old rifle. All the techs I took her too said she couldn't be fixed, but I'm going to prove them wrong."

Kal smiled behind his mask and leaned on the bench, "I could help. Let me have a look."

Zaeed shrugged, handing the quarian his favourite rifle, "Give it a shot then; you'll have no more luck then I did. Jessie's dead; that's clear as day. I remember the time I had to put her out of commission; it was one mission against this Eclipse base, it was when I met Captain Enyala. I was about to kill her when my rifle jammed up, gave her just enough time to throw me across the room and make her escape. Can't believe I fucked that painted asari whore, and I wish I could have done the job myself when we met again on Illium, but I guess-"

"There we go," Kal interrupted, clicking the mass acellerator into place, switching it on and waiting for it to charge. Zaeed was skeptical for a moment but his eyes practically lit up when he heard the weapon's safety click on and a blue hum appear inside. The merc looked at it in wide-eyed surprise and for a moment, just stared. But after a bit, he lunged forward, grabbed the rifle and held it in his hands. He turned to the side, pulled the trigger and practically laughed in glee when a shot pierced the bulkhead.

He turned to the quarian, a wide grin across his face, the former Blue Suns merc ecstatic, "How in guddam hell did you get it working? Every tech I saw-"

"Were obviously idiots who had no business handling a gun. And trust me, I'm a marine. I'm to guns what Miss Zorah is to engines," Kal replied, nodding at the weapon in Zaeed's palm, which the mercenary was now scrubbing to get rid of the thick coating of rust collecting on it, "The reason your weapon jammed is because you simply overheated the mass acellerator. However, the weapon had obviously been overtasked before hand, because the weapon's interior microfan that cools down the mass acellerator barrel was overtasked and couldn't compensate, and without the microfan, you're weapon doesn't cooldown. Weapon doesn't cooldown, it jams up. Any skilled weapons tech would see that immediately."

"Yeah, I did kill alot of Enyala's men before hand," Zaeed rubbed the back of his neck, cradling 'Jessie' like a newborn baby. He turned to Kal and slapped him on the shoulder, "I'm starting to like you, quarian. You did damn good. I'd goddam kiss you if you were a girl, or if you had lips..."

Kal chuckled, "I might have chosen to take offense to that. Quarians have lips, you just can't see them."

"Good, now I don't have to imagine that Tali girl sucking Shepard's face off with suckers," Zaeed laughed.

Kal narrowed his eyes, "Suckers? Who the hell told you quarians have suckers?"

"Vakarian, he's been spreading rumors around about those two. Apparently he had a betting thing going on betting on when they'd fuck," the mercenary shrugged, picking up his rifle and shining a credit chit in the quarian's face...metaphorically speaking, "I won. I said they'd do it before the Collector Base attack, and they did."

"How did you know?" Kal asked as Zaeed made to leave the armoury, but the merc stopped at the quarian's question and turned around, a huge grin on his face.

"EDI told me," Zaeed informed the soldier.

"EDI? As in the ship's AI?" Kal growled, "What Shepard and Tali do is private, and that AI just decided to spy on them...it watched them suit-linking?"

"Suit-linking?" Zaeed asked, confused, "What the fuck is-"

EDI's hologram showed itself, deciding not to hide any longer, "Suit-linking is the quarian name given to two quarians engaging in sexual intercourse, Mr. Massani."

"Oh," Zaeed replied, about to answer Kal's hostile question when EDI decided to answer for itself.

"And no, Mr. Reegar, I did not spy on Miss Zorah and Shepard 'linking suits,'" EDI declared, "I merely knew what was going on and informed Mr. Vakarian and Ms. Goto. When I saw what they were about to do, I deactivated all the cameras I have in the Captain's Cabin and let them have their privacy. All elevator activity to deck one was restricted per his orders."

"You didn't have to tell anyone. Noone needed to know what they were doing," Kal told the AI.

Kaidan guffawed, garnering a soft glare from the quarian marine, "Come on Kal, I've known them both since the days on the SR-1 and even then they were lovey-dovey, and they did a horrible job of hiding it. Sex is even harder to cover up."

Zaeed pointed at Kaidan and nodded, "Kid has a point; you should listen to him. Word was going to get out eventually, might as well be straight away," he turned to leave but stopped, turning to Kal once more, "And you did a good job, Reegar, I didn't think anyone could fix my poor old shitty Jessie. T...thank you," and then he left, as if embarassed by the statement.

Kaidan looked wide-eyed, "Did Zaeed just _thank someone? _Whoa, Garrus needs to hear of this. It could change everything," Kaidan grinned.

Kal rolled his eyes, turning back to his work bench, "Indeed."

EDI wasn't gone, "Zaeed is heading down to the garbage disposal area. He is unaware that Tali is there, waiting to kill him with a chainsaw."

Both men looked at the holographic pawn and waited for a moment, shocked faces worn. But, just as they were about to comm Joker, EDI spoke up once more, her new, classic line coming out smoothy like it always did.

"That was a joke."

Kaidan shook his head, unamused, "You really have to work on those humor functions, EDI. You're terrible at this."

"Joker seems to imply this as well," EDI replied, "I shall search the extranet for better jokes: searching...search complete. Sex jokes are commonly seen as funny, although immature, by most species. Would you like me to make a sex joke?"

"Come back later when you learn to deliver a joke better," Kal told it, not wanting to hear what a 'sex joke' was.

"Very well Reegar. Alenko," EDI responded, hologram disappearing, "Logging you out."

Kal shook his head again and turned back to his work bench, once again wondering how he came to be on such an unusual ship.

Pure luck, he guessed.

**{Loading...}**

_October 16, 2185_

_1012 hours._

_Captain's Quarters, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, Departing the Citadel._

_Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Chief Engineer Tali'Zorah vas Normandy._

He felt warmth; not the typical one you got from staying under a blanket for a long amount of time, but the kind you got from another body pressed to yours. It was sweet and momentful, when he felt that warmth, he felt no great weight on his shoulders or any trepidation, he felt no vehemence or felt threatened, he just felt euphoria, solace and tranquility. Most of all, he felt love. Someone he loved very much pressed against him, holding him, keeping him safe. Most wouldn't know it, but he treasured that safety.

His eyes slowly opened, getting used to the darkness. It was no longer dark anymore; the light of the Serpent Nebula leaking into the cabin as the Normandy left the dock under his orders and headed for the Widow Relay; their journey to Illium beginning. _Liara will help us; I know she will. I just hope the Shadow Broker hasn't gotten to her first. If she's hurt...no, she'll be fine. _Pink light filled the cabin and he felt someone shift against him, purple veil giving away their identity. He smiled dreamily.

He looked up and saw Tali's eyes meet his, helmet turned to face him, no longer in a spooning position. By the way her eyes moved and shrunk, he could tell she was smiling under that mask, a three-fingered hand messaging his back. He moved his own hand down to her thigh, gently stroking its length. She tightened herself against him, not wanting to let go.

Finally, Tali spoke again, her voice sultry, "Remember how I said I wasn't sick anymore? Well, I wasn't lying. I'm not sick anymore, and I don't have to report to engineering for a couple of hours, so if you just...I don't know..." he felt her other hand moved to inbetween his legs and softly begun to stroke the area where his groin was located. He closed his eyes and inhaled, reveling in her touch. _It will be better when I can actually touch her. _His other hand began stroking her tricep, smiling.

His voice was a whisper, "Well, I got a good night sleep, and I'm pretty comfortable, so I guess I'm not particulary tired either..."

The quarian once again smiled behind her mask and opened her omni-tool, immediately hitting a button that would inject antibiotics and herbal supplements into her immune system and strengthen it. They usually worked quickly, so by the time she was out of the suit, they would be flowing through her.

With that done, she took off her omni-tool and placed it on the table next to them before turning back to him, and guiding his hands as they took off her mask. Taking that, she placed it on the bedside table as well and turned back to face him, her face revealed once more. He cupped one of her smooth cheeks, a line of freckles lining her pale grey skin. Her eyes glowed, but not powerfully and her nose was small but still big enough to be human. And when he pulled her hood back, long, raven hair piled out, barely going past her shoulders and exposing a pair of elf-like pointed ears. Her rosey red lips showed years of neglect. But that had changed.

Tali hummed as she was once again exposed to the cool air of the cabin, just letting Marcus' hand rest on her cheek and his other hand moved through her hair, enjoying the sensations they brought. She closed her eyes and put her hand up, using the other to take the glove off said hand and throw it away. Once gone, her uncovered hand landed on Marcus' own cheek, where she revelled in the feel of his own skin on hers. She giggled when she felt wet lips hit her palm and cooed to the feeling of the wet trail it left.

Eventually, she opened her eyes and Marcus leaned in, both of their lips crashing together in a hybrid of love and lust and passion. Mouths opened and tongues explored each other, both finding new ways to pleasure each other with just a single, long-winded kiss.

They stayed in this position for a few minutes before finally breaking for air, both of them smiling like idiots. After a bit, lips locked again, Tali rolling ontop of Marcus as she did. _He controlled our lovemaking last time; now its my turn. _While ontop of him, she spread her legs and straddled him, three-fingered hands moving across his muscled abs and making sure to feel every crevice and spot she could find, smiling gently as she did.

Hands fixed around her golden neck brace and removed it, dumping on the floor next to them as Marcus leaned up and let his lips explore the exposed skin, causing Tali to coo and moan in response to the sensations. It was pure euphoria. Their lovemaking last time had been rushed and desperate, a speedy dash of long-buried passion and lust. Now they had all the time they wanted; noone to disturb them.

Their lovemaking eventually sped up and Marcus found himself pinned to the bed as Tali slowly unlatched the clasps on her suit. She teased him and kept him pinned to the bed, only allowing his hands to reach up to her hips and no further. So he was forced to watch as her hands travelled up and down her form, fiddling with every clasp she came across, and doing it agonizingly slow, an evil grin on her face.

Her movements were graceful and fluid; hands dancing in tandem to remove their prison from their host so they can join with their other half in a bundle of love. He watched as Tali's beautiful and unique purple veil, with its patterns and swirls, fell from her lithe form and was thrown away, her petite, sexy form unveiled to Marcus, who was getting impatient. Next came the latches of her suit, all hissing as they disengaged and fell from her suit, landing heavily on the bed before she unstrapped her utility belt and threw them across the room to land on the couch. Finally done, she began to reveal herself slowly, gracefully and most of all, teasingly.

Her shoulders were exposed first, followed by her deceivingly large breasts, that seemed to pop out like balloons being inflated, followed by the rest of her torso. Eventually, her suit was hanging around her waist when Marcus lost patience, leaned up and locked his lips with hers again, the quarian's smile lost as she didn't push him back but continued the kiss, both of them moaning as their tongues locked and danced, hands cradling each other's heads.

She finally pushed her lover onto his back, allowing her to completely rid herself of the suit. She tossed it away, and then tore off her boots, followed by her boot knife and shin pads and finally leggings. When it was all said and done, she lay completely naked before him; a goddess in all her glory. A goddess that was currently straddling him; forcing him to ignore the feeling of his bulge bumping up against her arse.

She smiled wickedly down at him before leaning down and leaving little, wet pecks on his chest, moving her way up, past his neck, his chin, his beard and...past his lips. He wanted to growl in impatience, but simply let her control the pace. But it was hard to ignore his base urges when such a beautiful woman was ontop of him, naked. She left a peck on every surface she could; on his nose, his cheeks, his chin, his forehead, his hair and...he winced and grinned when he felt her bite the tip of his ear, leaving a little kiss there as well as she came back, eyes meeting his before her lips crashed back into his, rewarding him for his patience.

He watched as she pulled away, smiling as their forwards touched, slowing down their lovemaking for the moment as they breathed each other in. He heard her sigh, and once again loved the sound of it. Not synthesized by a mask filter, but her pure voice, and it was like honey.

"I love you Marcus," Tali told him, giving another quick peck, before moving downward alittle, "And this morning, I'm going to show you just how much I care about you."

"I love you too, but I'm sure there are other ways to show you appreciate me than sex," Marcus grinned.

"Are you complaining?" Tali asked, grin wicked.

"Most certainly not Miss vas Normandy," Marcus replied, voice innocent.

She giggled, giving him a knowing look before sliding down his form and beginning where she left off, leaving more pecks on his body as she travelled down his torso, past his waist and towards the bulge in his boxers. Tali's head moved under the sheets as she spread his leg and grabbed hold of his boxers, pulling them down, Marcus assisting her by straightening his legs for her to pull them down. Once done, she tossed them in his face, and he immediately grabbed it, laughing, and tossed it away.

He shuddered as wet lips brushed against the tip of his erect manhood and warm breath tickled it. He looked down to see Tali looming over it, giving him a look he couldn't describe; it was lustful, yet so adorably innocent. He didn't know what to make of it. _How can she look so innocent while doing something so...not-innocent? _

She continued this until she flicked her tongue out and traced circles around his tip, causing him to shudder more and shift in anticipation, an instinct built into his body for a long time. She smiled and her hand moved forward, grabbing his cock around the center and gripping it, beginning to stroke it casually. He himself made cooing sounds and even moaned as she pleasured him with her hand, the quarian careful not to get him off and Marcus did all he could to hold himself in.

It didn't take long for Tali to get bored of simply stroking his erect organ and finally let go, wrapping her mouth around his shaft and moving downward, Marcus surprised when she was able to take it fully in her mouth. _Do quarians not have a gag reflex!? _He moaned louder than before and continued to do so as she had her way with him, Marcus gripping the sheets as she sucked him. She occassionally licked him, but apart from that, the cabin was silent save for the sounds of Marcus moaning and Tali's silent moaning as she sucked him off.

After a couple of minutes, Tali stopped and lifted her mouth from his penis and got up, moving herself forward. He saw the look in her eyes. They were filled with lust and passion. She needed him, and she seemed to be done with teasing, instead just wanting him right there and now. Both of them still under the blanket, Tali positioned her hips over his manhood, grabbed it and then directed it into her, the quarian falling down on his manhood and crying out as he entered her.

While her eyes were closed and she was simply getting reused to the feeling of him penetrating her, he leaned up and buried his head into her breasts once more, kissing and licking to increase the pleasure for her and himself. He heard her moan as she grabbed the back of his head and pushed him further onto her, the quarian arching her head back as she moaned softly, both sensations sending her over the edge. Subconsciously, she began to twist and spin her hips around in a circle, sending sensations through both of them.

Tali's moaning got louder and louder until she had to fight down on Marcus' shoulder to keep her scream of ecstasy from being heard below as she orgasmed around Marcus' manhood. She shuddered and fell onto Marcus, while the spectre hummed at the feeling of Tali's warm liquids sliding past him and onto his dick.

But Tali seemed unwilling to stop there, always thinking of others first, even when blinded by lust and passion. She let Marcus lick and bite at her hardened nipples for a while longer and then pushed him back onto the pillows, locked her lips with his and began an up-and-down thrusting motion on Marcus' manhood, all the while both of them moaned into each other's mouths. Marcus, all the while, barely seemed to notice the bitemark on his shoulder left by Tali's slightly sharper molar teeth.

Tali continued to thrust up and down until finally they both parted lips and Tali sat up on her lover's lap, placing her feet on either side of Marcus' head, her hands gripping his legs and using them for support and physically began lifting herself up and down, each time landing harder and faster on Marcus, riding him into the bed like somekind of feral beast.

Marcus could tell they were both nearing climaxes; Tali's moaning was getting progressively louder and Marcus could practically feel his seed coming and gripped the sheets harder as he let Tali ride him. But he couldn't, wouldn't, just sit here as Tali had her way with him. This was a battlefield, and be damned if Marcus let Tali win.

Marcus shot up and grabbed Tali's hips until she had her back on the bed, blankets tossed away and both of them, feeling hotter than the room temperature, and Tali's arms falling to her sides, legs at Marcus' hips. She thought she knew the position and her legs locked around his waist, but she didn't know. He pulled out of her, turned her away around until she was on all fours and facing the sofa and entered her from behind, gripping her hips as he pumped in and out, in and out, in and out, each of their cries intensifying in crescendo.

Tali climaxed before him; unable to cover up her screams as he felt her already dripping womanhood clench around his cock, warm liquid pulsating out of her as she shuddered and felt her arms give way, letting her crash forward. But Marcus wasn't done, and he just kept pumping into her until he finally gave way and all his seed spilled into her, both of them letting out loud, but contained, moans of pleasure.

They both stayed there for a few moments before Marcus pulled out of her and collapsed backwards onto the bed, Tali crawling up next to him to join him. They were both feeling like furnaces, so they decided to lay there uncovered, their naked forms exposed to the outside world as they lay there, wrapped up in each other's arms, breathing heavily, the cool air of the cabin feeling cold and nice against their skin.

He felt one of Tali's hands tracing his ribcage and Marcus just stroked her arm repeatedly, both of them not needing words. They had let their feelings flow out in their lovemaking, so there was nothing that needed to be said. They loved each other immensely, and damn anyone who didn't like it.

Finally, after twenty minutes of silence, Tali spoke up, "Keelah, that was amazing. Definitely better than the first time. Although, you didn't get to do that thing you did with your tongue."

Marcus took a second to realize she was quoting something and he chuckled, "You've been watching far too much Game of Thrones. I'm going to have to cut you off."

Tali giggled with him, "Just try and stop me, bosh'tet. I have a shotgun and a combat drone named Chiktika."

"And with your energy in bed, I imagine you'll be unstoppable," Marcus jested and was rewarded with a playful slap to the chest. He sighed heavily as both of them went into silence again. Five minutes later, Marcus interrupted the solace this time, his look of happiness replaced with a look of concern, "You going to be okay?"

Tali nodded silently, looking blankly at Marcus' chest, mind somewhere else. Finally, she responded, shaking out of her thoughts, "I'll be fine; it'll just be the same fever again, although slightly less bad considering our first time. It'll take time and alot more tries, but I'll eventually adapt to you."

"Adapt to me?" Marcus asked, curiosity peaked, "Does that mean...?"

Tali looked at him, eyebrow quirked, "It means we can kiss, make love or simply be around one another without me getting sick, yes. It'll just take time. Time which I'm sure we'll have," she added seductively.

He smiled, taking her hand and kissing it on the palm, "I look forward to it; I've got a surprise for you coming up, although you'll probably have to wait a while to get it."

"Do you now?" Tali asked, grin plastered on her face, "And what kind of surprise, hmmmm?"

"Something waiting on Illium," Marcus told her, teasing her in return for her tease during their lovemaking, "You'll find out; wouldn't be a surprise if I told you now."

They lay there for a bit longer; just savouring each other's presence.

**{Loading...}**

_October 16, 2185_

_1323 hours._

_Captain's Quarters, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate Normandy SR-2, In FTL inbound for Illium._

_Commander Marcus Lee Shepard._

Marcus stood there, silently looking at his terminal, not knowing what else to do. He had showered, cleaned himself up and put on the usual; his N7 cap, shirt and hoodie. The special clothes he ordered were neatly stashed away, waiting to be used later. He smiled as he thought of them, but quickly turned back to his terminal and sighed, wiping his face. Miranda had transfered all the files over to his terminal so he could review some of them, and he did, careful not to skim over any useful data while Miranda took a break.

He picked up the coffee mug that Gardner had brought up and took a sip, smiling at the pleasant warmth that travelled down his throat. His mind wandered to the morning he had shared with Tali, and how good it had felt. _Only about the second time we've done it. But damn is she beautiful...and sexy. Its a crime to lock such a woman behind a suit and mask. _They had both cleaned up and had a shower together an hour ago, Tali putting her suit back on and leaving for engineering, while Marcus planned to do the rounds after he was finished reviewing all the information Miranda had sent him.

It was mostly information on Cerberus' movements and the galaxy's reaction to the extinction of the Collectors. Many thought it was wrong to exterminate an entire species, while others are glad their gone, saying they were a galactic menace that needed removal. The Omega 4 Relay was still a no fly zone, but at least the people knew the truth about where it lead and what the Collectors did behind it before meeting their demise. _The Collectors, their ships, their horror house and that abominable Human-Reaper, all gone. Reduced to smoldering wreckage in the heart of some black hole in the galactic core._

A light flickered and died behind him and he sighed, standing up and hitting it, causing it to turn on. The Captain's Quarters hadn't suffered much damage from the battle, but the lights did happen to flicker a little, a fact that very much annoyed the spectre as she sat back down and kept reading. What worried him was the increasing Cerberus activity. Apparently they were shipping alot of resources to and from bases, seemingly preparing for something. And from what Miranda's contacts gathered, every Cerberus cell was working overtime on something. What, however, they didn't know. They were in the dark as to the Illusive Man's intentions; but it had something to do with the Reapers.

Marcus smiled at the reports coming from Omega; Aria T'Loak seemed to be benefiting from Archangel's, or should he say, Garrus', operations on the lawless station. Due to Garrus' viglantism, the Blue Suns, Blood Pack and Eclipse were largely decimated, with all three of their CEOs killed in the final assault, leaving them leaderless, allowing Aria's mercs to move in and assume leadership of what was left. Aria was the new CEO of all mercenaries on Omega, giving her hold over an army of her own, which could come in handy when the Reapers arrived. However, the reported increase of Cerberus operations on the station was also something to keep an eye on, even though the Illusive Man's intentions on a station such as Aria's were confusing at best.

The Blue Suns were also, reportedly, not so leaderless now, despite Vido Santiago's death on Zorya at the hands of Zaeed's revenge-filled vehemence. A merc, a human male by the name of Darner Vosque, had apparently taken command and was now rebuilding the Blue Suns operations on Zorya so they could continue production. He passed on this information to Zaeed, wanting to know if the bounty hunter wanted to pay Zorya another visit.

The Hock estate on Bekenstein was completely gone. The Milgrom Fire Department had declared the rubble unsafe to traverse and that the structure could completely collapse at any moment. Casualities were high, although most of them were high-end criminals and Eclipse mercenaries. They never found Hock's body and Jona Sederis, founder and leader of the Eclipse, was reported having been arrested by the Milgrom Police and was awaiting extraditation to the Citadel and into the hands of C-Sec, where she was apparently wanted for the murder of many civilians.

News on Illium wasn't much to look at. Nassana Dantius' death wasn't much of a shock and was largely smeared by the Nos Astra City Council, so she wouldn't be missed too well, although only Marcus, Tali, Garrus and Kaidan knew who she really was; an asari named Aleena who they had fought two years ago. That, and apparently Liara's mission to find the Shadow Broker was getting more intense, as apparently she was getting closer.

The Purgatory had apparently been scrapped as rescue ships arrived to save the prisoners and whatever mercs survived, but they were forced to destroy the prison ship when it was clear it couldn't be salvaged. Nothing the spectre would lose sleep over.

Horizon was slowly recovering from the Collector attack, but to the Alliance's chagrin, noone was willing to even touch Colony Grandeur after the abduction of the colonists there, claiming it would be like grave-robbing. Delan, the mechanic who survived, had set up a memorial to the colonists who died, and had been the one to actively start a smear campaign against Marcus for his destruction of the Collector Base, declaring that he 'murdered his fellow colonists instead of saving them.' He shook his head as he powered down his terminal, unwilling to keep reading. Luckily, the sound of the door to his quarters opening caught his attention.

Normally, only Tali was the one to enter his cabin and occassionally Garrus or Kasumi, so when he turned to face the person who entered, Jack was definitely the last person he expected to see.

He raised a brow at the convict, who seemed to just stand there, looking at him. He grinned as he spoke, "Something you need Jack?"

He couldn't read her face; it was a fix of emotions. Usually Jack only projected one emotion; carelessness. She wasn't very sociable, only ever came out to get food or train with Samara and generally sounded casual when talking about people she killed or, on occassion, flat out murdered. Jack was no perfect person, and she didn't pretend to be. But her emotions right now...he just couldn't read her. But one emotion stood out ontop, and made itself known to both parties.

Before Marcus knew what was going on, Jack had lunged forward, pinned him to the chair with her hands and locked her lips with his. At first, Marcus closed his eyes as he would with Tali and reciprocated the kiss, but didn't move his arms or anything. Jack tasted...funny, compared to Tali. Her puffy lips made it so her lips were bigger than this and seemed to crush them in her grip. Her scent was completely alien to him and her tongue was far too human. It was when Jack moved to straddle him that his eyes shot open and he realized what he was doing. _What the fuck is wrong with you Marcus!_

He slid his arms inbetween them and shoved her off of him, causing the convict to stumble as she regained her balance, a huge grin on her face as she wiped her mouth. She broke into a fit of laughter as she watched Marcus' shocked expression, the spectre wiping his own mouth.

Jack was still laughing when she responded to Marcus' shove, "You act like you never kissed a woman before. You really are a pussy, boy scout."

He looked at her, still shocked and recovering from what just happened. _I can't believe I returned that kiss. What the fuck is wrong with you, moron? You're lucky Tali didn't see that. Do I even deserve her after what just happened? _"What the hell was that Jack?"

The convict shrugged, scoffing, "What the fuck did it look like? I fucking kissed you, get over it. I have to admit Shepard, you look fuckable, and I'm certainly willing. I know you want me, so why don't we just cut the bullshit and-"

"You crossed the line!" Marcus shouted, halting the convict mid sentence, "And I-what? I look..._fuckable? You're willing? I want __**you**__? _Jack, what the hell is up with you? Why are you only now acting on these feelings?"

"Time didn't seem right, that's all," Jack told him, moving forward and noticing how the spectre seemed to move back with every step forward she took, "I waited, and waited, and waited. You want me, I can tell. You always come down to talk to me, to compliment me, to make me feel at hope. I offered sex, you turned me down to talk to me some more. Noone has cared about me in that way before, but I'm certainly willing to make this thing happen. I want to fuck you, but I think I also love you, I don't know, its fucked up. All I know, is I need that cock inside me, right about now."

He looked at her in a mixture of disgust, shame and anger, "So you just waltz in here and kiss me?"

"Why not?" Jack asked, still smiling as she crossed her arms.

He sighed, facepalming, "Jack, did it ever occur to you I might already be in a relationship?"

Jack scoffed, "You mean the quarian? Tali? So-"

"A stable, happy relationship?"

Jack still looked skeptical, "Look Shepard, cut the crap. I know you want me and you're just with her out of a act of pity. I know you-"

His face was full of rage and he stepped forward, finger pointed, "_**Act of pity? **_**Is that what she is to me!?**" the rage in his voice even caused Jack to flinch and back off slightly, "Tali means everything to me! This isn't an act of pity; I love her for fuck sake! We've been together since the beginning and we will be together till the end. I love her and only her, and you are a fool to think I'll betray her!"

Jack pouted, crossing her arms once more, but only after holding her hands up in her own defense, "Okay, fuck, calm the hell down, boy scout. Okay, so you don't want to break your relationship with the quarian, I get that," Jack moved forward and Marcus noticed a gleam in her eye. _What is she- _before he knew what the hell was going on, she was back infront of him, her eyes inches from his. Her next words were like venom laced on ice.

"So, why don't we share you?" Jack suggested, smiling, "We can both fuck you; at the same time, seperately, whatever you prefer. I don't think I've ever seen a quarian naked before, but I'd be willing if you want to," and before he knew it, he was backed against the wall and Jack was kissing him again, but this time he did not melt into it. This time he resisted, a arm pinned below her throat pushing her back. She tried to lean back in, but his arm wasn't budging. When he responded, his voice was power laced with ice and was as cold as the winds of Noveria.

"No Jack," Marcus told her firmly, "I will not share myself with anyone but _Tali. _You understand? _Only Tali. _This is not some sick threesome relationship; this is me and Tali only. Get it? _Me and Tali. _So do whatever you want Jack, _**but I will not fucking share myself with you**_."

But Jack wasn't taking no for an answer and her face creased in fury. Instead of punching him however, he felt cold and realized that Jack's form was now wreathed in the familiar azure light of biotics. Charged with these biotics, she forced herself forward and locked her lips with his again, going to unbuckle his pants. _She thinks she can rape me? She honestly hasn't been paying attention._

Before she could do anything more, he charged up his own biotics and sent her flying back into the wall opposite him, only just missing the fish tank. Still fully charged, he began to prepare for a further attack from Jack, but only got a muffled grunt followed by...by..._sobbing?_

His azure glow dissipated as the anger melted from his face, the spectre looking down on Jack who, he was damn sure, was sobbing. When the convict looked up, this confirmed his suspicions; tears dripping down her face and cheeks, mascara creating a black inky substance in her tears that made it look like she was crying something evil. Her eyes were full of sorrow, something that was rare for the biotic powerhouse.

He moved to help her up, but she shoved him back with a biotic pulse and stood up, looking at him and spitting in his face, causing him to almost stumble backwards. All he heard from the convict, apart from her choking sobs was her departing words, _**"Fuck you!"**_

The doors slammed shut and Marcus wiped the saliva from his face and looked down at the spot where Jack had collapsed to the ground from his biotic push. He cursed himself, feeling ashamed and not ashamed for what he did. He melted into the chair, not knowing what to think.

_I stayed loyal to Tali and pushed Jack away; I love her, and I wasn't just about to have an affair behind her back. But was it right to push Jack away like that? If she really did love me in the way she suggested she did, then I've just wrecked her. What if Tali at the moment was Jack and Jack had been Tali? Imagine how Tali would feel about that kind of rejection. Jesus...what the fuck have I done!? __**Was I in the right or the wrong!?**_

And as he looked at his blank terminal screen, he cursed and slammed his fist into the table, the photo of Tali on his desk his only consolation.

He was both.

**"Illium. Where things started to get serious. And we thought we were safe."**

**- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.**

**"A stupid decision, in any situation. Always expect danger."**

**- Reia'Inas pav Earth.**

**"Yes, Illium was definitely...interesting. And we had really pissed off the wrong people. Or the right people, if given a certain asari's perspective..."**

**- Marcus Shepard.**

_**A/N:**_

_**The interrogation final sequence hints correctly. Next chapter will be a 2251 chapter, but after that, shit starts to get serious. What, you expected a fanfic full of fluff? I'm sorry, but I think I'd grow bored of doing fluff if I did it for too long. No, Illium is not only where the Normandy gets repairs, its where the shadow war begins. This is where shit gets awesome my friends. You'd better stay tuned.**_

_**You know what, I've looked forward to doing Requiem the most out of all of them. You'll soon see why. So many sub-plots! What ever shall I do to resolve them? Find out in the following chapters of Requiem!**_

_**Now if you don't mind, I've got some Walking Dead to catch up on. Excuse me.**_

_**Keelah Se'lai!**_


End file.
